Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Scheme

Image Source - Janataserishta

A recent initiative by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan to give families in metropolitan areas 100 days of employment is modelled after the MGNREGA.

About Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Scheme

• Providing work that is available on demand for 100 days per year to help poor and needy families who live in cities.

Areas covered

• Environmental protection, water conservation, heritage preservation, garden upkeep, encroachment removal, removal of unlawful sign boards, hoardings, banners, and sanitation projects will all be carried out.

Eligibility

• Under this initiative, at least 50 persons will be provided employment in each ward of urban local bodies is open to people between the ages of 18 and 60.

Registration

• It is necessary to have a Janaadhar card or its registration sheet.
• At e-Mitra centres, registrations can be completed.

Finances allocated

• For the programme, the government has allotted Rs 800 crore.

Other States' Urban Employment Guarantee Programs:

• Kerala: The Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme (AUEGS), introduced in 2010, aims to improve the livelihood security of people living in cities by promising a hundred days of wage employment to an urban household whose adult members volunteer to perform unskilled manual labour in a fiscal year.
• Himachal Pradesh: The Mukhya Mantri Shahri Ajeevika Guarantee Yojna, which offers each household 120 days of guaranteed pay work every fiscal year, was introduced in 2020 to improve livelihood stability in urban areas.
• Jharkhand: The Mukhyamantri Shramik Yojana, which guarantees 100 days of pay employment per fiscal year, was introduced in 2020 to improve the livelihood security of the state of Jharkhand.

Need for Urban Employment Guarantee Programs in India

Lack of "Guarantee" Plans:

• Launched in 1997, Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) offered wage and self-employment opportunities to the urban poor who were unemployed or underemployed.
• In 2013, the National Urban Livelihoods Mission took the place of the SJSRY (NULM).
• Urban employment programs have existed in India in the past, but none of them was "job guarantee" programs.

Rates of unemployment in cities

• The majority of unemployment data, including that from the Periodic Labour Force Survey and the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), demonstrates that metropolitan areas often have higher jobless rates.
• According to data from August 2022 (CMIE), India's urban unemployment rate is 9.57% (rural unemployment is 7.68%).

Vulnerable Informal Sector:

• The International Labor Organization estimates that of India's 535 million labourers, 398.6 million are employed in low-quality work. The lockout also made risky employment in low-paying, informal jobs in cities visible.
• The characteristics of vulnerable employment include poor pay, low productivity, and challenging working conditions that violate workers' fundamental rights.

Emphasis more upon Rural-focused programs:

• Rural unemployment and poverty are prioritized by the majority of government assistance programs, whether they come from the federal or state governments, like MGNREGA.
• Following the Covid epidemic, Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan was established in 2020 with a budget of Rs 50,000 crore to increase employment and livelihood prospects for migratory workers returning to the rural.

Other projects the Rajasthan government has undertaken

Health Insurance Scheme under Chiranjeevi

• To prevent the impoverished from having to sell their possessions in order to receive care, the state government has made treatment under the Chiranjeevi plan free.

Smartphone availability

• 1.35 crore women will receive cell phones from the government along with three years of free internet access.
• Nelson Gandhi English-medium institutions
• to give kids an English-medium education.

Sanitary towels

• Additionally, there is a plan to give women free sanitary products.
• The Kutchi Bastis Government also discussed the issues slum dwellers suffer and declared that the state government would regularise the Lucchi basis.

Way ahead

• Interventions by the States under the UEG Scheme are a positive move that grants urban dwellers the right to work and upholds the right to life protected by Article 21 of the Constitution.
• Larger towns and cities have received increased attention from initiatives like the Smart Cities Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
• It is crucial to shift our focus to enhancing the livelihoods and ecology of metropolitan areas outside of India's largest cities.
• A scheme that guarantees employment in cities raises worker salaries and boosts the economy as a whole.

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