Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority concern of the Government. Ministry of Rural Development has been implementing ‘The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005’ which provides at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The demand for work itself is influenced by various factors such as rain-fall pattern, availability of alternative and remunerative employment opportunities outside MGNREGA and prevailing unskilled wage rates.

Further, Government runs various employment generation schemes for beneficiaries like Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) implemented by Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) scheme run by Ministry of Rural Development, and Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) implemented by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs. Details of the progress of the schemes are as follows:

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is a scheme to extend collateral free loans by Banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) to small/micro business enterprises in the non-agricultural sector to individuals to enable them to setup or expand their business activities. Under PMMY, the number of loans sanctioned during 2015-16 to 2017-18 were 12.27 crore, out of which 3.49 crore were new entrepreneurs.

In order to improve the employability of youth, around 22 Ministries/Departments run skill development schemes across various sectors.

Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana has been initiated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in the year 2016-17 for incentivizing employers for promoting employment generation. Under this scheme, Government is paying the entire employer’s contribution (12 % or as admissible) towards the EPS and EPF for all sectors w.e.f. 01.04.2018  to all eligible new employees and is applicable for all sectors for the next 3 years. Till 30th July, 2018,   benefits have been given to 76908 Establishments covering 61.36 lakh beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY).

Government has also implemented the National Career Service (NCS) Project which comprises a digital portal that provides a nation-wide online platform for jobseekers and employers for job matching in a dynamic, efficient and responsive manner and has a repository of career content.

This information was given by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar Union Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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JN/SKP/IA