BENGALURU: With desperate graduates, postgraduates and skilled workers, for lack of suitable employment, enrolling themselves under the bread-and-butter MNREGA scheme in droves, the state government is coming to their rescue by finding them jobs based on their skills by conducting job fairs and directing them to the Skill Development Department for better placement.
As the lockdown started taking effect, tens of thousands of migrant workers returned to their villages and registered themselves under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Over the last two-and-a-half months of this fiscal, 2.23 lakh new MNREGA job cards have been issued, while during the same period last year, 78,454 people had registered under the scheme, which is almost a three-fold increase in registrations.
This year, the state government has targeted to reach 13 crore man-days, for which Rs 6,315.79 crore has been allocated, including the Central government’s share. Of the 13 crore man-days (100 days for one worker), the state has already crossed 3.3 crore man-days. Also, Rs 275 per day that the Karnataka government pays is more than what is assigned in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. The only exception being Kerala, which pays more than Karnataka.
Officials of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department had not expected this surge in registrations, but are trying to help the workers. “They can register through the Kayaka Mitra mobile app, while many labour organisations too are helping them enrol under MNREGA,” RDPR Principal Secretary LK Ateeq told The New Indian Express.
‘It’s win-win situation for industry, workers’
Now, the RDPR Department is conducting a sample survey at one panchayat in each hobli.
“Our officials ask workers their education qualification, skills, their earlier employment, etc. This report, which is expected to be completed by June 25, will be submitted to respective deputy commissioners and panchayat chief executive officers, who can organise job fairs at industrial clusters where qualified people can find suitable employment. It’s a win-win situation for industries and workers. Recently, a small job fair was held at Ballari,” Ateeq said.
“More people coming under MNREGA is a good sign and we can accommodate them all under the scheme. But we cannot find suitable jobs for them based on their qualifications. If there are skilled labourers, we will put them to the Skill Development Department, where they can take up employment as per their ability,’’ he added.
Sources said that it is not fair to take workers who are overqualified under MNREGA. “Just because they apply or register for MNREGA, they need not work as manual labourers,’’ they added.