Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot launched the renovation works of a stepwell under the Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme in Jaipur on 9 September. Photo Credit: PTI
the story So Far: Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme has been launched with the objective of providing financial assistance to poor and needy families living in cities in Rajasthan with the objective of providing them 100 days of on-demand work in a year. On the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), launched by the UPA government at the Center in 2006, the Congress government has described it as the country’s biggest scheme to provide guaranteed employment to people living in cities.
Who is eligible to get the job?
People in the age group of 18 to 60 years living within the limits of urban local bodies are eligible to find demand and employment in the identified sectors. There is no income limit, however, preference will be given to poor and destitute people, especially those who have lost their livelihood during the pandemic. So far more than 3.5 lakh people have registered themselves under the scheme across the state and out of them 2.25 lakh job cards have been issued.
A budgetary provision of ₹800 crore, announced by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the state assembly earlier this year, has been made for the scheme in 2022-23. Employment will be given to at least 50 persons in each ward of urban local bodies and works permitted under the scheme will be approved and executed through committees at the state, district and local body levels. The state government will also reward the municipal bodies doing good work under the scheme. The payment for cost of material and labor will be in the ratio of 25:75 for work of general nature and will be different for special work which requires technical expertise. The Local Government Department of the State Government will be responsible for the implementation of the scheme.
What are the categories of tasks?
The works to be done under the scheme have been mainly included in eight items. The first is environmental protection, which would include plantation of trees in public places, maintenance of parks and watering of plants on footpaths and dividers. Next is water conservation, where tasks can be allocated for cleaning and improving ponds, lakes and step wells, building rainwater harvesting structures, repairing and cleaning and restoring water sources. Other categories are heritage conservation, removal of encroachments and illegal boards, hoardings and banners, preventing defacement of property and service related works.
As part of convergence, people engaged under the Employment Guarantee Scheme can be employed elsewhere in other schemes that already have a physical component, requiring labour. Eligible people will get work like tree plantation, cleaning of ponds, collecting and segregating garbage from house to house and catching stray animals. In addition to all these categories, the state government can add new works or amend the works already included in the list. A Jan Aadhaar card or its registration slip issued by the state government will be required for registration, which can be done at E-Mitra centers. While over 31,000 muster rolls have been issued for the work, wages will be paid at the rate of ₹259 per day to unskilled workers and ₹283 per day to skilled workers. The ‘mates’ or supervisors over the laborers would get ₹ 271 per day. Livelihood rights activists feel that while the scheme will help ease distress among the urban population, the ultimate test of its success will be to ensure that it improves wage rates in the labor market, one of the major contributions of the MGNREGA Was.
What would be its political implications?
The Congress government has tried to reach out to a large section of the population with the launch of the scheme and try to create an emotional connect by naming it after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. While experts are of the view that the gap in labor force participation rate between rural and urban areas is widening, some other schemes including payment of unemployment allowance are already in operation in the state. The latest initiative could benefit the ruling Congress in the run-up to the 2023 state assembly elections, as the party would highlight it as a major step to address the plight of the urban poor, which had not received much attention earlier. Identification of unemployed youth in urban areas may require a different approach for MGNREGA than that adopted in villages. Moreover, the jobs provided under this scheme would be different than those in rural areas and would require a more skilled workforce. The scheme could prove to be a game changer for those who have lost their jobs in the pandemic and are struggling to make ends meet amid high inflation.
Are similar schemes running in other states as well?
Rajasthan government has prepared employment guarantee program after studying similar schemes running in other states. Many states are looking favorably towards the urban version of MGNREGA. These schemes include the Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme in Kerala, the Urban Wage Employment Initiative under Unnati in Odisha, the Mukhyamantri Shramik Yojana in Jharkhand and the Mukhyamantri Yuva Swabhiman Yojana in Madhya Pradesh.
Swarnajayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana was launched in 1997 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to provide gainful employment to the urban unemployed and underemployed poor by encouraging them to set up self-employment ventures and through provision of wage employment. The scheme was replaced with the National Urban Livelihoods Mission in 2013. However, neither of the two was an employment guarantee scheme.
Growing distress among the urban poor, higher unemployment rates in urban areas as compared to villages, persistently high inflation affecting people and low wages and poor quality of life has led to a growing demand for a job guarantee scheme in cities. Informal work in urban areas. Moreover, as rural unemployment is mostly seasonal, unemployed people in cities face problems throughout the year.
-
Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme has been launched with the objective of providing financial assistance to poor and needy families living in cities in Rajasthan with the objective of providing them 100 days of on-demand work in a year.
-
People in the age group of 18 to 60 years living within the limits of urban local bodies are eligible to find demand and employment in the identified sectors.
-
The initiative could benefit the ruling Congress in the 2023 state assembly elections, as the party will highlight it as a major step to address the plight of the urban poor.