Govt says about 16.5 lakh Indians benefited under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana
The ABRY scheme incentivises the creation of new employment, social security benefits, and restoration of loss of employment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Around 16.5 lakh Indians have benefited from the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana (ABRY) that was launched in October to encourage hiring in the country amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Labour Santosh Gangwar said on Wednesday.
"As of March 9, 2021, 16.49 lakh employees were registered for availing the benefits (under ABRY)," Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
The scheme has been introduced to incentivise the creation of new employment along with social security benefits and restoration of loss of employment during the pandemic.
Being implemented through the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), it reduces the financial burden of the employers of various sectors/industries and encourages them to hire more workers. Under the ABRY, the Indian government is crediting for a period of two years both the employees’ share (12 percent of wages) and employers' share (12 percent of wages) of contribution payable.
In another reply on job creation in the House, the minister said, "Under the ABRY, about 16.5 lakhs beneficiaries have registered themselves with the scheme from October 1, 2020. Of this, about 13.64 lakhs are new joinees with UAN (universal account number) generated on or after October 1, 2020, and about 2.86 lakhs are re-joinees who were rendered unemployed during the pandemic from March 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020, and rejoined from October 1, 2020, onwards."
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Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), the government has contributed both 12 percent employer’s share and 12 percent employee’s share under Employees Provident Fund (EPF), totalling 24 percent of the wage for the month from March to August 2020 for the establishments having up to 100 employees with 90 percent of such employees earning less than Rs 15,000.
Under the PMGKY scheme, Rs 2,567.66 crore was credited in EPF accounts of 38.82 lakhs eligible employees, the minister told the House.
In another reply regarding women job creation, the minister said,"During April– December 2020, around 9.27 lakh female subscribers have been added under Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme, 1.13 lakh female subscribers under the New Pension Scheme (NPS), and around 2.03 lakh female subscribers under Employees’ State Insurance Scheme."
In another reply, the minister said, "The pending (provident fund) claims are 15,351, which is 0.053 percent of the total of 2.91 crore claims settled during that period (April 2020 to February 2021)."
The (PF) claim settlement is a dynamic process with continuous receipt and settlement of the claims. The time period for settlement of claims, complete in all respects, is 20 days.
Edited by Suman Singh