NEW DELHI, July 1:Union Minister Santosh Kumar
Gangwar Monday said that reports about high unemployment rate
in the country are misleading and asserted that employment
generation is the priority of the Government.
Amid concerns in various quarters about reports on rising
unemployment, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment
told the Lok Sabha that he was ready for a discussion on the
employment situation in the country.
He also said the government is looking into the issue of
unemployment and would be coming out with a report.
During the Question Hour, Congress member Adoor Prakash
said that unemployment rate in the country was high and asked
whether the government has any master plan in place to
generate more jobs in every sector of the economy.
In response, Gangwar said reports about high unemployment
rate are not fully true, eliciting protests from Opposition
members.
Referring to the reports, the minister said they are
“brahmak (misleading) baat hai”.
“Employment generation coupled with improving
employability is the priority of the government,” he said.
For the 2018-19 period, under the Prime Minister’s
Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), jobs were generated
for 5,86,728 people as on March 1, 2019, according to data
provided in a written reply.
While mentioning various initiatives taken by the
government, Gangwar said 18.26 crore loans were sanctioned
under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) up to March 31,
2019.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY),
the government pays entire employer’s contribution towards EPF
(Employee Provident Fund) and EPS (Employee Pension Scheme)
for all eligible new employees for all sectors for three
years, he said.
“Till June 16, 2019, benefits have been given to 1.21
crore beneficiaries,” he added. (PTI)
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