Raj creates most jobs for migrants under govt plan
ONE MONTH ON ~50,000-crore scheme is spread across 116 districts from six states
NEWDELHI: Rajasthan, whose chief minister Ashok Gehlot is now embroiled in a political battle with his ousted deputy Sachin Pilot, generated the highest employment in the first month of the Centre’s flagship job scheme for migrant workers who have returned home in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ~50,000-crore Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 20, is spread across 116 districts from six states: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha. Bihar, the launchpad of the programme, has emerged as the top spender under it.
Bihar is home to the second highest number of migrant workers, next only to Uttar Pradesh, who returned home after the government enforced the lockdown for the pandemic starting on March 25. It has spent ~2,558 crore under the programme, and Rajasthan has generated 41.1 million persondays of employment, according to government data accessed by HT.
The job scheme was announced after at least 10 million daily wage workers returned home amid the lockdown that sparked fears of loss of livelihood. Policymakers clubbed together 25 schemes to generate jobs through the programme, primarily construction work that uses skilled migrant labourers.
Only districts with at least 25,000 returnee migrant workers were eligible for the scheme. The scheme generated 110.2 million days of employment in the first month in all six states, underlining the demand for skilled jobs. The Centre’s other flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), saw a surge in unskilled employment in the hinterland of India.
The six states have collectively spent ~ 9,699.62 crore so far on the scheme that will run for at least 125 days. Rajasthan, geographically India’s largest state, started the MGNREGS season on a tepid note because of the lockdown, but it generated 41.1 million days of work at a cost of ~2,502.67 crore. It has completed 24,000 projects of rural housing and 13,000 pieces of work for laying of optical fiber cables.
Bihar, now home to at least three million migrant returnees, has given 18.7 million days of employment. It, too, saw heavy participation in building rural houses for the poor (53,741 projects), followed by laying of fiber optic cable (16,856 projects). Bihar generated fewer than half the days of work that Rajasthan did despite spending more.
Jharkhand, is yet to pick up pace. It created just 1.83 million days of employment and spent ~247.92 crore—the lowest among the six states. Experts said the spending patterns and extent of job creation can vary because of different factors. “You need to see which projects are being taken up in higher quantity. Constructing national highways is less labourintensive...construction of a rural house needs 2-3 workers whereas a cattle shed requires just one man,” said former rural development secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra.
India’s most populous state, UP, received over 3.5 million migrants in the last three months. Under the scheme, it has generated 27.2 million days of employment and spent ~ 2,142.29 crore. Madhya Pradesh created 18.8 million days of employment, spending ~1,903 crore; Odisha generated 2.44 million days of employment.