Migrants without MGNREGA card will also be eligible for jobs
In a bid to make the MSY scheme popular, the state urban development dept had proposed an amendment in the scheme. J’khand cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to the amendment
RANCHI: Now rural migrants coming to cities in search of job will also be eligible for the Mukhyamantri SHRAMIK (Shahri Rozgar Manjuri for Kamgar) Yojana (MSY), a 100day job guarantee scheme for urban unskilled workers launched by the Jharkhand government last year, but with a certain condition.
In a bid to make the MSY scheme popular, the state urban development had proposed
an amendment in the scheme. Jharkhand cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to the amendment.
Director of directorate of municipal administration (DMA) JV Narayan Rao said, “In a bid to increase the scope of the scheme, we have proposed for the amendment, under which people coming from rural areas to cities will also get the benefit.”
However, there is a condition.
“Only those people, who do not have the MGNREGA job card, will be considered eligible under the scheme,” she said.
Hemant Soren government had launched the scheme on August 14 in view of providing jobs to urban poor and migrant workers, who returned from other state due to Covid pandemic triggered lockdowns. However, it has evoked lukewarm response from the job seekers since its launch.
As per the data provided by the urban development department, merely 1,709 people have raised demand for work, while only 1,465 people were allotted work till February 4. However, a total of 22,489 people have applied for job cards under the scheme and 15,957 have received the job cards till date.
The department has found instances that people, who received job cards, are not interested for work now. The department in its finding found that many people, who received jobs cards, had expected skilled jobs under the scheme but the scheme is for unskilled workers and most of the works under it are of civil nature, officials said.
Besides, there are also instances that many people applied for job cards only to have one more government document, which they think could benefit later.
Out of the 51 urban local bodies in the state, only Dhanbad and Hazaribag have done partially well in term of raising work demand and job allotment. In Dhanbad, a total of 4721 workers have applied for job cards and 2674 cards have been generated. As many as 154 people demand work and 129 have been allotted jobs. Similarly, Hazaribag saw work demand by 106 people and all of them were allotted jobs.
Gomia, Dhanwar, Barki Sariya, Chaibasa, Bachara are worst performing ULBs where work demand from the workers are still awaited.
Similar to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the MSY was expected to enhance livelihood security to around five lakh urban families living under below poverty line (BPL). The scheme provides 100-day job guarantee.
It has a provision for unemployment allowance, if any urban local body fails to provide work to job seekers within 15 days. A worker will be entitled to one-fourth of the wages for the first 30 days of unemployment and it will be half in the second month. If the worker does not get a job for third, they will be entitled to equal to basic minimum wage, officials said.