Home Knowledge Path to Progress...Deendayal Upadhyay Shramew Jayate Yojna

Path to Progress...Deendayal Upadhyay Shramew Jayate Yojna

by Madhavi Mihir Bhuta (National Executive Member, BJP Mahila Morcha)
Sep 22, 2020
Path to Progress...Deendayal Upadhyay Shramew Jayate Yojna, Knowledge, KonexioNetwork.com

Bharat, an ancient culture, had been vouchsafed with a rich heritage of self-sufficiency. Majority of the population lived in rural areas and people had flourished following their skill based occupations. 

The advent of Foreign rule brought Western influence. The age-old custom of self-sufficiency through skilled entrepreneurship was destroyed as the rural economy was hugely hit with foreign goods entering Bharat and our markets being flooded with Imported machine made products. These products were not handmade utilising skills of manufacturer but were manufactured on mass scale on machines and hence they turned out to be much cheaper, but the uniqueness of handmade products was lost.

Eventually, the skilled entrepreneurs were left with no choice other than turning into labourers for industries. Their skills became purposeless.

With the coming of Independence the situation should have changed, as Bharat’s more than 80% of population lived in rural areas. The healthy, indestructible and well built  rural economy could have brought prosperity to the nation. But, the then Governments post-independence, could not maintain the equilibrium between the strengthening of the Village structure and the Urban Industrialisation.

Mahatma Gandhi too had recommended adopting the RURBAN system to protect well being of villages and villagers. But unfortunately the Nehruvian Model, with Socialism as its base ideology, remained on paper and the large section of the population remained labourers with their skills remaining futile.

the scenario started changing with Narendra Modiji led Government coming to power at the Center in 2014. Modiji ‘s commitment to honouring the skills and capabilities of the labourers fructified into SHRMEV JAYATE Yojna.

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Yojna was launched in October 2014 under the Government of Bharat.

Shramev Jayate Yojna was launched with an objective to support the ‘Make in India’ movement for encouraging the manufacturing sector as well as to expand the Government support for imparting skill-training to the workers.

The key elements of the scheme are

1. ) A dedicated Shram Suvidha Portal, which would allot Labour Identification Number (LIN) to nearly 6 Lakhs units. This facility would enable filing of self-certified and simplified single online Return by the industry, instead of filing 16 separate returns.

2. ) The compliances would be reportable in single harmonized form which would make it simple and easy for those filing the forms. The performance would be monitored using key indicators thus making the evaluation process objective. Mandatory uploading of Inspection report within 72 hours by the Labour inspector would render transparency in the system.

3. ) The Portal also has an effective grievances redressal system. It promotes the use of a common Labour Identification number (LIN) by all implementing agencies. Timely redressal of grievances are ensured with the help of the portal.

Labour Inspection Scheme :

So far the units for inspection were selected locally without any objective criteria. To bring in transparency in the labour inspection, a transparent Labour Inspection scheme was essential.

a) serious matters are to be covered under the mandatory inspection list.

b) A computerised list of inspections would be generated randomly based on pre determined objective criteria.

c) Complaints based inspection would be judged centrally after examination based on data and evidence. There would be an emergency list for inspection of serious cases in specific circumstances.

Portability through Universal Account Number (UAN) for Employees Provident Fund :

Under the scheme, a complete information for approximately 4 Crore subscribers of EPF has been centrally compiled and digitised and a UAN has been allotted to all. The UAN has been seeded with the Bank Accounts, Aadhar Card and other KYC details for the financial inclusion of vulnerable sections.

The EPF account of an employee would be updated monthly and he/she would be informed through SMS. Finally, it would ensure that each of the 4 Crore or more EPF account holders would have direct access to their EPF accounts and would also enable them to consolidate all their previous accounts. Approximately Rs 27000 Crores were lying with EPFO in inoperative accounts.

The minimum pension for employees has been introduced for the first time, hence employees pension is not less than Rs 1000/- per month. The wage ceiling has been raised from Rs 6500 to Rs 15000 per month to ensure that the vulnerable groups are covered under EPF schemes.

The Portal would be operative in 4 Central Organisationa namely Chief Labour Commissioner, Directorate General of Mines safety, Employee Provident Fund and Employees State Insurance corporation.

In this endeavour of the ministry, complete information of all 11 Lakh units for these organisations has been collected, digitised and de-duplicated reducing the total number to 6-7 Lakh. It is proposed to allot LIN to all these 6-7 Lakhs.

Recognition of the Brand Ambassador of ITIs :

The industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) of the country are the backbone of the Vocational Training System. They are the only source of supply of Skilled manpower to the manufacturing industry.

There are about 11,500 ITIs having about 16 Lakh seats. But this is grossly inadequate for supplying skilled manpower to Pan-Bharat industries. This results in only 10% of the workforce having received any kind of formal or informal technical training.

As a general trend, pass outs from the education system do not have ITI training as their priority preference. Most of them end up in ITI after exhausting themselves with all other options for higher education.

This is the irony of our nation. It is a result of a mindset of considering Blue collar jobs as derogatory. British rule in Bharat created the White Collared class for running their local administration but killed the honour of our Skilled persons.

A healthy society shall only progress if the equilibrium between White collared class and Skilled Labour class exist hand in hand and maintains Dignity of Labour on equal footing.

Progress of Manufacturing sector is inevitable for any nation’s economic growth. For meeting the skilled needs of the industry and for enhancing employability of the youth, it is important to attract more and more youngsters to vocational training. Unfortunately, ITIs did exist for many years but, advancing dignity of Vocational training and its usefulness in livelihood was not conveyed effectively by the previous Governments.

Hon. Prime Minister hails from a humble background and has had a long standing connection with the ground reality. Modiji has evolved a persistent strategy to change the scenario.

In November 2014, special ministry of Skill Development was launched with a focus of intensified thrust on Vocational training and livelihood opportunity.

In addition, Ministry of Labour conducts competitions to foster the healthy spirit of competitiveness among the trainee Craftsmen/Apprentices with a goal for higher quality work.

All India Competition for Apprentice among trainees is admitted under Apprenticeship Training Scheme (ATS) and conducted twice every year. The award is given to the Best Apprentice- Cash prize of Rs 50,000/-and a merit certificate and for Runner Up Apprentice - Cash prize of 25,000/- and Merit certificate in each trade and the BEST ESTABLISHMENT prize on Pan Bharat basis - a trophy and a certificate are awarded by the Hon. President of Bharat.

All India Skill Competition for Craftsmen among trainees admitted under Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS) is conducted once a year and on the basis of marks obtained in Skill competition by trainees, the award is presented to Best Craftsman - Cash prize and merit certificate, Best Institute - a merit certificate and the Best State - a shield.

Both the competitions are conducted in Fifteen trades. I.e. Fitter, Turner, Machinist, Welder (G&E), Mechanic (Motor Vehicle), Mechanic (Diesel), Instrument Mechanic, Draughtsman (Mechanical), Draughtsman (Civil), Electrician, Electrician (Mechanic), Cutting & Sewing, Foundry Man, Computer Operator & Programming Assistant (COPA) and Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning Mechanic.

The Apprentice Act 1961 was enacted for regulating the Apprentice Training Scheme in the industry for imparting on-the-job training for apprentice, but unfortunately the policy did not touch the souls of people. The Governments till 2014 did not put in sufficient efforts in inspiring Dignity for Skilled labour, hence the youth looked down upon this option. Whereas the world over, Apprenticeship Scheme has been hugely successful. In countries like Germany, China and Japan, where the number of Apprentices are stated to be 3 million, 20 million and 10 million respectively.

Narendra Modiji led Government has undertaken revamping the apprenticeship Scheme in Bharat after extensive consultation with industry, states and other stakeholders. The necessary bill amending the Act was passed in the Loksabha in August 2014, With the vision of increasing Apprenticeship seats to about 23 Lakhs from 4.9 Lakh seats and creating a legal framework which would be friendly to both industry and Youth, Increasing the rate of stipend and indexing it to minimum wages of semi-skilled workers.

Apprentice Protsahan Yojna would mainly support manufacturing units and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to Apprentice during the first two years of the training. Handicapped can also avail employment through training under Vocational Rehabilitation Centers. (VRC)

Modi Government is pursuing an ambitious goal of empowering more than Eight Crore Fifty Lakhs youth with the employment in various manufacturing units by the end of 2022. (The goal may get extended a bit due to COVID pandemic slow down).

Hon. Prime Minister ‘s attempt to refurbish the mindset of the people regarding respect towards Skills of labourers. Modiji had appealed to the nation to see labour issues from the eyes of Sharmika as much as we would see it from the eyes of industrialists. If our nation aims at succeeding in ‘Make in India’, it is essential to recognise the role of Shram Yogi as Rashtra Yogi and Rashtra Nirmata and salute their contribution in Nation Building.

Shramev Jayate is a Shram Kranti inspired by Narendrabhai Modiji that not only empowers Skills of our labourers but eventually leads to strengthening of the industries, remodel the e-governance and bring a full stop to Inspector Raj.