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Skill India: Govt realises it’s missing out on a majority of the workforce
The government is going to shift the focus of its skills training program to the informal and unorganised sector, a report by Moneycontrol.com claims. The unorganised-informal sector employs 93% of the Indian workforce.
“So far, the ministry was focusing on skilling manpower for 7 percent of the workforce who are in the formal sector. What about the 93 percent rest? That is a big realisation for the ministry…” a government official told Moneycontrol.
A “handful of ministries led by the Skills Ministry and the Ministry for Rural Development” along with government departments can together spend up to Rs 5,000 crores a year for skills training in the informal sector, the report says.
Since identifying workers in the unorganised sector is a challenge, the Centre plans to partner with states at the municipality and block-level for better outreach. The labour and employment minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar recently told the Rajya Sabha that his ministry would prepare national data on unorganised workers.
Elaborating on this targeting method, the official quoted above calls Mudra loan a success because it targets “the right audience”. However, the response to an RTI filed by The Wire revealed that non-performing assets (NPAs) under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) doubled within one year.
Given the past record of neglect of the unorganised and informal workers in policy initiatives and doubts over the success of the skilling program even in the formal sector, little can be said of the government’s intent without a formal announcement and proper action plan.
Trade unions protest against disinvestment plans
After finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced disinvestment target of Rs 1.05 trillion for 2019-20 (up from Rs 90,000 crores last year) and bringing down government stake in certain PSUs below 51% to reduce fiscal deficit, trade unions across the country have been up in arms.
While earlier the NITI Aayog only considered sick and loss-making central public sector enterprises (CPSE) for strategic disinvestment, profit making entities are also being added to the list now. The Wire has reported on a protest by employees of one such profit-making entity included in the list last year.
While the left-wing trade unions have warned of a mega nationwide shutdown against this move, Saji Narayanan C.K., national president of the RSS-affiliate trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), had also expressed his concerns about it in an interview to The Wire.
Also Read: ‘Nationalising Losses, Privatising Profits Has Become Govt Policy’: BMS President
Tapan Sen, general secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) told India Today TV that it was a “sabotage of national interests”.
Unions say this is an attempt to deliberately push PSUs into financial stress and then sell them off to private parties. Employees oppose privatisation because of concerns about public accountability and adherence to labour laws. Similar protests have been going on against the plan to corporatise seven railway production units. You can read The Wire’s report on it here.
Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) members at a protest. File photo. Credit: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta/The Wire
‘Witch hunt’ of union members at Budweiser brewery continues
After The Wire reported on allegations of attempts by the company management to bust the employee’s union at the AB InBev (parent company of Budweiser and other popular beer brands) brewery in Sonipat, two more union members have been suspended.
Santram Verma and Narendra Pal were suspended on July 16 and July 17 on what the union leadership calls “trivial” matters. The Wire’s report was published on July 14. Deshraj, general secretary of the Haryana Breweries Limited Mazdoor Union, says that this was a vengeful act and done in response to the story so that no employee could dare speak to the media.
Mid-day meal workers in AP protest
Thousands of mid-day meal workers protested in Vijayawada district of Andhra Pradesh on Monday, reports Newsclick. They were demanding “rescinding of the mid-day meal contract with the Akshaya Patra Foundation, enhancement of government spending on each child’s meal and clearing pending bills of self-help groups.”
Also Read: Eggs in Mid-Day Meals, Anganwadis Will Ensure Nutrition – and Gender Parity
Akshaya Patra, an NGO run by the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) trust, was recently in news after a report on the quality and taste of its onion and garlic free mid-day meal appeared in The Hindu. According to The Hindu, Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy allotted Rs 100 crore to Akshaya Patra for construction of centralised kitchens to supply food for the meal scheme.
The protesting mid-day meal workers, most of them women from rural areas, fear loss of livelihood by such centralisation of kitchens. They also expressed concerns about the freshness of the food as the kitchens are far from the schools.
This scheme is a major source of employment for women in the rural areas who have suffered because of delay in payments, being forced to procure groceries on credit and even personal loans.
This scheme is a major source of employment for women in the rural areas. (Representational image) Source: akshayapatra/pixabay
AP passes legislation to reserve 75% jobs for local youth
Fulfilling his pre-election promise of a jobs quota, Jaganmohan Reddy’s government passed the Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in Industries/Factories Act, 2019 on Monday.
This Act “reserves 75 per cent jobs in industrial units, factories, joint ventures and projects set up under public-private partnership mode,” reports News18. The new law also says that if companies don’t find enough local talent, they will have to train locals with the help of the state government.
Earlier this month, MP CM Kamal Nath also said that his government was considering a law to ensure 70% reservation in private sector jobs to local youth.
Extra reading
‘Female Labour Force Participation: Asking Better Questions’ – Read here.
‘The death of the working class reporter’ – Read here.
‘Mockery of a Wage Floor’ – Read here.
‘Modi’s labour law ‘reforms’ will dilute your rights as a journalist’ – Read here.
