Cabinet approves Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana; to cost Rs 1,584 crore this year

Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved employment generation scheme Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana at an expenditure of Rs 1,584 crores for the current financial year and Rs 22,810 crores for the entire scheme period i.e. 2020-2023. The Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana scheme, which aims to create more formal jobs, to benefit around 58.5 lakh employees, said Union Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar while briefing media after Cabinet meeting.

The registration for the scheme will be effective from October 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, the labour minister said, adding that the ministry will soon notify rules for the scheme.

Under the programme, the Centre will reimburse 24 per cent, 12 cent each for employees and employers, for two years for all new formal jobs created in enterprises having up to 1000 employees between October 1 and till June 30 next year, Gangwar said at the cabinet briefing.

In organisation where employee strength is  more than 1000 workers, the reimbursement will be restricted to 12 per cent of the employees contribution, he said.

An employee drawing monthly wage of less than Rs 15,000 who was not working in any establishment registered with the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) before October 1, 2020 and did not have a Universal Account Number or EPF Member account number prior to October 1, 2020 will be eligible for the benefit.

The EPFO will credit the contribution in Aadhaar seeded account of members in electronic manner, and is also planning to develop a software for the scheme and also develop a procedure which is transparent and accountable at their end.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had on November 12 announced Rs 2.65 lakh crore worth economic stimulus package, termed as Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0, comprising 12 big measures to revive the economy marred by coronavirus pandemic. These measures included the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana to generate employment.

Besides, the Cabinet has taken a decision to launch PM- Wi-fi access network interface-to unleash a massive wi-fi network in the country, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday. Briefing media after Cabinet meeting, the minister said that public data centres will be opened in the country and there will be no licence, fee or registration for it.

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