Lok Sabha Question No. 1223 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-06
Subject: Financial Assistance
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Malook Nagar, Sanjay Bhatia

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1223 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06 TH  DECEMBER, 2021

## FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

## 1223. SHRI MALOOK NAGAR: SHRI SANJAY BHATIA:

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the policies formulated by the Government to tackle increasing unemployment due to Covid-19 in the country;
- (b) whether the Government has got the unemployment data and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  formulated  any  scheme  to  provide  any financial assistance to the people rendered unemployed due to Covid-19 and if so, the detail thereof;
- (d) whether  any  new  step  has  been  taken  by  the  Ministry  to  provide assistance to the dependents of COVID affected persons and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether  any  step  has  been  taken  to  provide  support  to  the  affected families under the Employee Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme besides pensionary benefits and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)

- (a)  to  (d):  The  data  on  employment/unemployment  is  collected  through Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by National Statistical Office (NSO),  Ministry  of  Statistics  and  Programme  Implementation  (MoSPI)  since 2017-18. As per the results of PLFS conducted during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, the estimated Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons of 15 years and above  on  usual status basis in the country is  6.0%,  5.8%  and  4.8% respectively.

Recently  Government  has  launched  All-India  Quarterly  Establishment  Based Employment Survey (AQEES) in April, 2021. As per the result of the first round of Quarterly Employment Survey for the period April to June 2021, employment  increased  to  3.8  crore  in  the  nine  selected  sectors  of  the economy against a total of 2.37 crores in these sectors taken collectively, as reported in the sixth Economic Census (2013-14) reflecting a growth rate of 29%. The most impressive growth of 152 percent has been recorded in the IT/BPO sector, while growth rate in Health is 77 percent, in Education it is 39 percent, in Manufacturing it is 22 percent, in Transport it is 68 percent and in Construction it is 42 percent.

COVID-19 pandemic has affected economies across the globe including India. Government  has  taken  several  initiatives  to  address  the  challenges  and threats posed by the pandemic.

Government is providing fiscal stimulus of more than Rs. twenty seven lakh crore  as  part  of  the  Aatmanirbhar  Bharat  financial  Package.  Aatmanirbhar Bharat package comprises various long term schemes/ programmes/ policies for making the country self-reliant and to create employment opportunities.

Prime Minister Street Vendor's Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme was launched on June 01, 2020 to provide working capital loan to Street Vendors, vending in urban areas, to resume their businesses, which were hurt adversely due to COVID-19 induced lockdown.

Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), Government of India has contributed  both  12%  employer's  share  and  12%  employee's  share  under Employees Provident Fund (EPF), totaling 24% of the wage for the wage month from  March  to  August,  2020  for    the  establishments  having  upto  100 employees with 90% of such employees earning less than Rs. 15000/-.This has helped  in  protecting  employment  in  EPFO  registered  establishments  during post Covid period.

Government had launched the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) of 125 days on 20th June, 2020 to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for returnee  migrant  workers  and  similarly  affected  persons  including  youth  in rural  areas,  in  116  selected  districts  across  6  States  of  Bihar,  Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The unemployment benefit under the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana being implemented by the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has been enhanced  to  50%  from  25%  of  the  average  wage,  payable  upto  90  days, alongwith relaxation of eligibility conditions to claim the benefit.

Government is encouraging various projects involving substantial investment and through public expenditure on schemes like Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya  Yojana  (DDU-GKY),  Deendayal  Antodaya  Yojana-National  Urban Livelihoods  Mission  (DAY-NULM),  Pradhan  Mantri  Kaushal  Vikas  Yojana (PMKVY) etc.

Government has increased MGNREGA wage to Rs. 202 a day from Rs. 182 to benefit nearly 13.62 crore families.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is being implemented by the Government inter alia, for facilitating self-employment. Under PMMY collateral free loans upto Rs. 10 lakh, are extended to micro/small business enterprises and to individuals to enable them to setup or expand their business activities.

In addition, RBI and Government of India have introduced measures to infuse liquidity in the economy to sustain the market economy and raise the level of employment.

The  flagship  programmes  of  the  Government  such  as  Make  in  India,  Digital India, Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, Housing for All and Industrial corridors and Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme are oriented to generate productive and sustainable employment opportunities.

Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has implemented the special  programme  for  the  fresh  skilling  (Short  Term  Training  (STT)  and upskilling  (Recognition  of  Prior  Learning (RPL)  of  the  returnee  migrant workers  impacted  by  COVID-19  under  its  flagship  scheme  Pradhan  Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) to support the Garib Kalyan Roazgar Abhiyan (GKRA).  This special programme has covered 116 districts of 6 state namely Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.  MSDE with the support of District Administration has undertaken skill mapping of the returnee  migrants  and  identified  the  beneficiaries  for  the  training  under PMKVY.

The  Government  has  simplified,  amalgamated  and  rationalized  the  various Central Labour laws into four Labour Codes namely, the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 which would promote  investment  and  setting  up  of  more  enterprises  thus  catalyzing  the creation of employment opportunities in the country.

(e):  Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) provides Social Security benefits in the form of Pension and Insurance to dependents of workers who were  members  of  the  schemes  under  the  Employees'  Provident  Fund  & Miscellaneous  (EPF  &  MP)  Act,  1952.  Whether  the  death  happened  due  to Covid19 or otherwise, Pension and Insurance benefits (widow/ children/orphan/nominee/parents) were paid to them as per statutory provisions.

During the period April, 2020 to October, 2021, relief in the form of Pension and Insurance benefits to dependents  widow / children / orphan / nominee / parents) were paid as follows:

1. (a)  Total  number  of  beneficiaries  granted  pension   due  to  death  of member: 1,55,886

(b)Amount of pension paid to such dependents: ₹ 564.72 crores

2. (a) Total number of insurance beneficiaries: 72,181
2. (b)  Amount  of  insurance  money  paid  to  such  dependents:   ₹  2003.87 crores.

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