Govt to soon set up panel for National Employment Policy: Report
Following the Covid-19 outbreak, the country's first National Employment Policy received increased attention.
The government will shortly appoint a committee to draft India’s first National Employment Policy, with the goal of massively boosting the country’s employment generation. According to a report in The Economic Times, a senior government official was quoted saying that work has begun to select the members of the group, which is expected to include officials from key ministries, academia, experts, and employers and trade union leaders.
“The new committee will be informed as soon as possible. By the end of the fiscal year, we aim to have the first draught in place.” “According to the official, the policy will be based on information gathered from ongoing employment surveys.
In relation to the increasing number of gig workers and platform workers in the country, the policy is likely to take into account the estimated jobs produced under the production-linked incentive (PLI) plan across a dozen sectors.
Last year, a group of ministers led by Thawar Chand Gehlot, then the minister of social justice and empowerment, proposed that the National Employment Policy include a sectoral roadmap with incentives for job creation.
According to the official, the policy will generate employment opportunities by creating an enabling environment for attracting new enterprises and industries. It will also improve the skill sets of the existing workforce to make it employable and competent enough to meet global standards, with a particular focus on increasing female workforce headcount.
Following the Covid-19 outbreak, which resulted in the loss of millions of jobs and a rise in the overall unemployment rate to frightening proportions, the country’s first National Employment Policy received increased attention.
Despite the fact that the pandemic first struck India in March 2020, the country’s overall employment is still lower than pre-pandemic levels, and at least five million youth are added to the country’s 450 million workforces every year, the country’s overall employment is still lower than pre-pandemic levels.
In 2008, the idea of establishing a dedicated National Employment Policy was initially proposed. During the United Progressive Alliance’s administration, an inter-ministerial group looked at the proposal, but nothing tangible came out of it.