Rajasthan to help workers find jobs in industries
JAIPUR: With the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown squeezing out jobs and incomes, the Rajasthan labour department has collated data of 4598,000 workers, including 800,000 migrants, who are in need of employment, officials said.
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot had announced that an online employment exchange would help labourers and migrant workers get jobs and provide manpower to industries that are restarting production.
The online portal and an app that has been developed by the labour department are currently being tested and CM is likely to launch them next week, officials said.
Rajasthan saw 1200,000 migrants registering to return home. The existing labour force and migrants have lost livelihoods and income sources have dried up. To provide jobs, the government has mapped the labour force and will provide them to the industry that matches their skill set. “We have a database of workers as well as industry on the online exchange. The exchange will match the labour available and industry requirement,” said Niraj Pawan, secretary, labour department. He said skill mapping of migrants is also being done.
“There are 2200,000 building and other construction workers, 350,000 registered with Raj as than State Livelihood Development Corporation, 1097,000 on the employment exchange and 150,000 with ITIs and 800,000 who have come from outside,” Pawan said.
While the department has 4598,000 registered labour, it also has a database of 750,000 businesses. The department has addresses, phone numbers and aadhaar card numbers of the labourers, he said. “Through the online exchange, industry can mention its labour requirements and we can provide the labour,” Pawan said.
“If a company puts its requirement on the portal, the department will match the labour. If the company is ready to hire them, the labour will be contacted on phone or through SMS.”
The Covid pandemic and lockdown has led to unemployment being at an all-time high, putting pressure on government to provide jobs. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the unemployment rate in Rajasthan in April 2020 was 17.7% though lower than the national rate of 23.5%.
Apart from the labour data captured by the labour department, another 4000,000 people are engaged in the MGNREGS in Rajasthan, the highest employed in the state under the scheme since its inception.
Dr Prithvi Raj, state finance secretary, has said that the Rajasthan economy could see a 20-25% contraction in the current financial year as GDP, employment and demand will see a decline due impact of the coronavirus. Dr Ranjana Vaishnav, a social worker who works on labour issues, said the online portal is a good initiative but the government should try to upgrade skills of workers. “The 14-day quarantine period can be used to train labour through online training modules. They will use their time gainfully and also get skilled,” she said.
Vaishnav said the state government should push the micro, medium and small-scale industry, which is flailing in Rajasthan. “There are a lot of local arts but they don’t have the platform or the quality to be exported,” she said. “The government should help strengthen the value chain, such as sourcing raw material, production, improving quality, marketing and selling so these units can be viable and generate income and employment,” Vaishnav said.