Nearly 100,000 people get work under urban job scheme in Rajasthan

Around 100,000 people have received jobs in less than a week of the launch of Rajasthan government’s scheme to provide 100 days of employment in a year to families in urban areas, a senior official said on Thursday.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot launched the Indira Gandhi Shehari Rojgar Yojana on September 9 for people aged between 18 and 60 years old. So far, job cards for more than 245,000 families have been made, and 383,639 people of these families are included in job cards.

Also, 139,798 beneficiaries from 96,452 families have demanded jobs so far. “The number is increasing. There is a lot of enthusiasm about this scheme in the urban areas of the state,” said a senior official of the department of local bodies that is implementing the scheme.

“The government is making endeavours that no person remains deprived of employment for livelihood,” he said.

While unskilled labourers will get Rs 259 per day, skilled workers will be given Rs 283, and Rs 271 per day has been fixed for mates, he said. The wages of the labourers are paid directly in their bank account within the prescribed period.

The official claimed that Rajasthan is the first state to launch such a scheme to provide guaranteed employment in the urban areas on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which proved a boon for India during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Taking a cue, Gehlot had announced in his Budget speech to start an urban employment guarantee scheme much on the lines of MGNREGS.

For this scheme, the state has a Budget provision of Rs 800 crore for the financial year 2022-23. The estimated cost of identified works is approximately Rs 658 crore.

The registration for the scheme is being done through Jan Aadhaar cards. There is a provision for providing employment within 15 days after the application.

The labour and material ratio of 75:25 has been decided at the level of local bodies. In the special nature of technical works, the material cost along with payment of technical experts and remuneration of skilled labourers will be of 25:75 ratio.

The scheme will include works related to environment conservation, water conservation, cleanliness and sanitation, preventing defacement of property, service, convergence, heritage conservation, etc.