Employment News
No hike in rural job scheme, static at Rs 86000 cr
NEW DELHI: The flagship scheme for rural employment, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been allocated Rs 86,000 crore in FY25 slightly lower than the revised estimate for FY24 and Rs 20,000 crore more than the budget estimate in FY24.
Skilling
Budget 2024: For the young, qualified good news
The budget has two bits of good news, with some riders, for educated young Indians, whether looking for a job, any job, or looking to fund their higher education. First, GOI will shepherd a paid internship programme. Over 5 years, 1cr young people will be interns for 1 year in India’s top 500 companies.
Govt cannot go alone in skilling, pvt sector crucial: Finance Secretary
The internship programme is voluntary; it is only for companies required to do corporate social responsibility (CSR). We do not expect companies to spend any of their bottom-line money on the scheme. The government will cover the lion’s share of the internship cost, which is 90 per cent of the stipend. Instead of directing CSR activities towards building amenities that the government and state governments already handle, we want companies to focus on skilling, which is something only they can do. We will support the fellow by providing a stipend. It is an ambitious concept but incurs no extra cost to the industry.
Women in the Workforce
Budget 2024: Making more room for women in workforce
To enhance women's participation in workforce, govt will facilitate setting up of working women's hostels in collaboration with industry, and also help in establishing creches. "In addition, the partnership will seek to organise women-specific skilling programmes, and promotion of market access for women SHG enterprises," Sitharaman added.
Selling Dreams, Delivering Debt: Self-Reliance Surge in OECD Countries May Leave Indian Health Workers Behind
We are at the midpoint of 2024, a remarkable year in terms of the number of democratic elections taking place around the world. What is also striking is that in many countries such as the UK, USA, France, Germany and others of the EU we are seeing growing disquiet around immigration and a trend towards support for right-wing parties. With India now a top exporter of health workers, what do such trends mean for the tens of thousands of Indians training as health workers in the hope of finding a job in those countries?
Dying at Work
Mineral oil fires killing Firozabad bangle workers for 5 yrs. Govt, union waking up now
An ill-thought out, knee-jerk decision led workers to shift to a dangerous chemical that has left at least 16 dead and over 300 injured in the past 5 years. Deaths and fires have become more frequent in Firozabad’s bangle making industry in the past five years. It all began with a desperate shift from the domestic kerosene to a highly inflammable MTO five years ago, without any government oversight, training, study or scrutiny of its safety aspects.
In the Courts
Calcutta High Court seeks Bengal government affidavit on wage of tea estate workers
Calcutta High Court asked the Bengal government to submit an affidavit within three weeks on the steps it had taken to fix minimum wages in the tea sector. Justice Joy Sengupta of the high court’s Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench issued the order on a petition filed by Paschimbanga Cha Mazdoor Samiti, an independent trade union of tea plantation labourers.
Benefits for Workers
Budget FY25: Govt to facilitate rental housing for industrial workers, encourage states to moderate stamp duty rates
Amongst a host of measures to boost the real estate sector in India, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 announced the government’s plans to encourage states to moderate stamp duties and facilitate rental housing for industrial workers.
Budget 2024: Govt to build dormitories near manufacturing clusters
The Centre will construct dormitory-style rental housing close to manufacturing clusters to retain workers at production units for longer periods, thereby maintaining steady production levels, said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.
Tailpiece
In Delhi, domestic help steals jewellery to buy DSLR to make reels, held
A domestic help’s aspiration to become a social media influencer landed her in the custody of Delhi Police. Neetu, a resident of northwest Delhi’s Rajapuri, was arrested after she stole jewellery worth several lakhs from her employer’s residence in Dwarka. Her motive? To finance a DSLR camera, essential for her burgeoning YouTube and Instagram ambitions.
Labour in Parliament
Economic Survey shows decline in formal sector jobs, experts point to rise in self-employment as not a good sign
India witnessed a decline in generating regular jobs in the last five years, according to the Economic Survey 2023-24. In contrast, the engagement of the labour force in self-employment has increased from 2018-19 till 2022-23, said the survey tabled in Parliament on Monday. The survey quoted the data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) carried out by the statistics and programme implementation ministry.
MGNREGS demand not a real indicator of rural distress: Economic Survey
The survey underlined that despite low poverty levels, the MGNREGS funds usage in Tamil Nadu and Kerala was higher than that in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Providing Jobs
Need for speed: Finance minister deploys Rs 2 lakh crore plans to employ, skill 4 crore
In a clear recognition of the challenge of unemployment in a country with the world’s largest young population, govt unveiled for four crore youths a Rs 2 lakh crore mega package of five schemes spread over a 5-year period to boost jobs, skilling and other opportunities.
Job schemes not a mandate, but a nudge to firms, says FM Sitharaman
The government’s ambitious employment-linked incentive schemes and the internship programme announced in the 2024-25 Budget are not enshrined as rights, and the private sector will only be nudged to adopt them, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said… Companies can optimally use their CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds and make sure that when they talk about employable skills in people who come out from, let’s say, engineering colleges, they can give opportunities to those people for apprenticeship on their shop floor,” said Sitharaman in an interview with Business Standard.
Labour minister to meet with 20 ministries on 'capturing' employment data
The meeting will include officials of ministries of agriculture, coal, corporate affairs, statistics, skill development, and textiles. "This exercise would serve as the starting point in formalising a way to capturing data for insights and creating interlinkages between the demand and supply side of jobs across the country," Labour Secretary Sumita Dawra told 'Business Standard'.
Budget 2024: Employment-linked incentives poised to transform job creation, say brokerages
In her seventh budget address, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced three new employee-linked incentive schemes as part of the Union Budget for 2024-25. These initiatives, included in the Prime Minister’s package, aim to enhance enrollment with the Employee Provident Fund Organization and emphasise support for first-time employees, as well as offer assistance to both employers and employees.
Jobseekers
Disabled UPSC candidate denied service despite clearing exam four times
A UPSC candidate with muscular dystrophy, Kartik Kansal, has been repeatedly denied service despite ranking in the civil services exams. His story highlights discrepancies in disability classification for different services. Retired IAS officer Sanjeev Gupta has advocated for Kartik, pointing out the injustice of his situation. A recent merger of criteria may finally allow Kartik to receive the IAS position he rightfully deserves.
Salary Growth
Compensation gap between CEO & median employee widens in India Inc from pre-pandemic years, finds ET study
The gap between the chief executive officer and median employee compensation in India Inc. has widened from the pre-pandemic years, as per an ET study of 35 listed companies who are amongst the top ones in their respective sectors or by market cap.
India’s Working Week
IT industry exerting pressure on govt. to extend working hours of employees, says Labour Minister
The proposed 'Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2024' seeks to normalise a 14-hour work day. The existing act only allows a maximum of 10 hours work per day including overtime. Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees' Union (KITU) that has urged the Siddaramaiah-led government to reconsider the plans to extend the working hours, strongly opposing the proposed amendment which, it said, poses an "attack on the basic right of any worker to have a personal life."