Lok Sabha Question No. 2414 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-13
Subject: Shrinking of Informal Sector
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Geetha Viswanath Vanga

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2414

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 13 TH  DECEMBER, 2021

## SHRINKING OF INFORMAL SECTOR

## 2414.  SHRIMATI VANGA GEETHA VISWANATH:

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

- (a) whether  the  informal  sector  shrank  sharply  in  2020-21  and  the  workers  in  the sector continue to bear the brunt of pandemic's adverse effects as per SBI report during the last five years till date; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof, reasons therefor and present status thereof along with corrective steps being taken in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  &  (b):  As  per  annual  Periodic  Labour  Force  Survey  (PLFS)  report  proprietary  and partnership enterprises are considered as informal sector enterprises. Percentage of workers engaged in proprietary and partnership (P & P) enterprises among workers in usual  status  (ps+ss)  engaged  in  non-agriculture  sector  during  2017-18,  2018-19  and 2019-20 are 68.2%, 68.4% and 69.5% respectively.

The  Government  has  recently  launched  e-SHRAM  Portal  to  prepare  a  National Database for Unorganised Workers including construction workers, migrant workers, gig  workers  and  platform  workers,  street  vendors,  domestic  workers,  agriculture workers,  etc.  In  less  than  100  days  since  the  launch  of  e-Shram  portal,  as  on 8.12.2021, 11.08 crore workers have registered on the portal.

Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the  Government.  Accordingly,  the  Government  of  India  has  taken  various  steps  for generating  employment  in  the  country.  The  Government  of  India  is  encouraging various projects involving substantial investment and public expenditure on schemes like  Prime  Minister's  Employment  Generation  Programme (PMEGP) of the Ministry of Micro,  Small  &  Medium  Enterprises,  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment Guarantee  Scheme  (MGNREGS)  &  Pt.  Deen  Dayal  Upadhyaya  Grameen  Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) of the Ministry of Rural Development, Deen Dayal Antodaya YojanaNational Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) of  the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs  and  Pradhan  Mantri  Kaushal  Vikas  Yojana  (PMKVY)  of    the  Ministry  of  Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) etc.

The  Government  of  India  has  announced  Aatmanirbhar  Bharat  package  to provide stimulus to business and to mitigate the adverse impact of Covid 19. Under this  package,  the  Government  is  providing  fiscal  stimulus  of  more  than  Rs.  Twenty Seven lakh crore. This package comprises of various long term schemes/ programmes/ policies for making the country self-reliant and to create employment opportunities.

The Government 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.

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

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is being implemented by the Government 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. Under this scheme 31.28 crore loans were sanctioned till November 2021.

Besides these initiatives, various 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,  Infrastructure  Development  and  Industrial corridors  and  Production-Linked  Incentive  (PLI)  Scheme  are  also  oriented  towards generating productive employment opportunities.

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