YOGI’S SKILL-MAPPING DRIVE FOCUSES ON GIVING JOBS TO LABOURERS RETURNING HOME
taking the lead in unleashing major labour reforms, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has initiated a marathon “skill mapping” drive, with the intention to create a database of the state’s nearly 25 lakh labourers who have returned home from various metropolitan cities across the country to escape hunger and uncertainty in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. As per data, more than 15 lakh workers have already registered themselves through the panchayat-level administration with this “skill mapping” exercise, across 75 districts of the state. The initiative aims to create a database of skilled labourers and subsequently involve them in the state’s MSME (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) sector.
Apart from the “skill mapping” exercise, the Yogi Adiyanath government has announced the creation of a Migrant Labour Commission (MLC) to look into the migration of labourers in future and to maintain a database of such labourers. A senior UP government official told The Sunday Guardian: “Yogi Adityanath is concerned about the suffering and humiliation faced by lakhs of labourers trying to escape the metro cities. The Chief Minister’s aim is to end the humiliating situation of the lakhs of migrant labourers by engaging them in their own state. So the Chief Minister wants a rapid mass-scale skill mapping launched.”
“The Chief Minister has directed senior state officials to complete the skillmapping exercise within a fortnight and officials have also been told to prepare a database of skilled labourers and conduct a survey of the state’s MSME sector to assess the employability situation in these MSMES,” the same official said.
As per an estimate by the UP government, nearly 25 lakh labourers have returned to the state.
“Out of a total of 25 lakh, the majority who have returned home are skilled labourers who have been working in the metros as plumbing staff, electricians, beauticians, gym trainers, nurses, coaching teachers, exercise