Union Minister for Personnel, Jitendra Singh informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, December 15 that as many as 1.47 lakh new appointees were inducted by various central government departments, autonomous bodies and banks among others through 'Rozgar Melas' that are being conducted across the country.
In a written reply to a question posed in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that recruitment against vacancies is a continuous process and that the government is trying to fill up vacancies in "mission mode." "By the time vacancies reported by a department get filled up, some new vacancies arise. Vacancies in various central government ministries/departments and their attached and subordinate offices are caused due to retirement, resignation, death, and promotion of the employee," Singh said, according to a report by PTI. "Rozgar Mela is expected to continue to act as a catalyst in further employment and self-employment generation and provide gainful service opportunities to the youth," the minister said.
"Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the government. The government has taken various steps to deal with the problem of unemployment in recent times," Singh added. Speaking on the measures taken to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the minister mentioned the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) package, which is meant to provide a fiscal stimulus of more than Rs 27 lakh crore to businesses. The project was launched in October 2020 to incentivise employers to the creation of new employment and restoration of loss of employment during the pandemic, Singh informed the Parliament. The terminal date for registration for beneficiaries was March 31, 2022. Singh added that as on November 28 this year, benefits have been provided to 60.13 lakh beneficiaries.
Highlighting another effort of the central government to boost job creation, Singh spoke about the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes launched as part of Budget 2021-22, with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore, for five years starting from 2021-22. The minister mentioned that the scheme had the potential to create 60 lakh new jobs.
According to PTI, in a separate response, Singh said the unemployment rate or UR (on the usual status of age 15 years and above) was 4.2% during 2020-21. The Worker Population Ration (WPR) was 52.6% for the same period. The UR was 4.8%, 5.8% and 6% during 2019-20, 2019-19 and 2017-18 respectively, he said. As of December 2022, the unemployment rate in India stands at 8.7% as per data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, an independent private research group based out of Mumbai.
