National employment policy on anvil, says Kharge

The Union government is in the process of formulating a national employment policy, Labour and Employment Minister M Mallikarjun Kharge said today.

The policy is being prepared by the Department of Planning and cabinet approval would be sought once it is ready, the minister said. Kharge also said that the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) scheme is proposed to be extended in a phased manner to workers in hazardous mines such as slate and mica, as well as beedi workers, autorickshaw and taxi drivers, ragpickers, domestic workers and rickshaw pullers.

As of the last month-end, RSBY cards have been issued to 23.5 million families under below-poverty-line (BPL), he said. The scheme offers cashless health insurance cover of Rs 30,000 to a BPL family of five to meet hospital expenses in treatment from any public or private hospital empanelled under the scheme throughout the country, officials said.

 

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has picked up the scheme as one of the social security scheme of the world for publication, they said.

Kharge was speaking at a news conference just after flying back from Geneva, where he attended the 100th International Labour Conference, Meeting of Ministers of Labour of the non-aligned movement, IBSA (India Brazil South Africa) meeting and G-20 meeting of Labour and Employment Ministers.