MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI BANDARU DATTATREYA)
(a) & (b): As per the result of most recent three labour force surveys on employment and unemployment conducted during 2004-05, 2009-10 and 2011-12 by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the estimated employment and workforce participation rate on usual status basis is given below:
Estimated Employment (in crore)
Year Rural Urban
Male Female Male Female
2004-05 21.95 12.43 9.06 2.47
2009-10 22.98 10.57 10.44 2.56
2011-12 23.49 10.20 10.98 2.74
Workforce Participation Rate (in percent)
2004-05 54.6 32.7 54.9 16.6
2009-10 54.7 26.1 54.3 13.8
2011-12 54.3 24.8 54.6 14.7
The State/UT-wise usual status, Workforce Participation Rates (%) of women in the rural and urban areas in the country during 2011-12 is placed at Annex. According to the Annual Employment and Unemployment Survey conducted by Labour Bureau, the Workforce Participation Rate during 2015-16 was 73.3% for male, 25.8% for female and 47.2% for transgenders.
Government has taken various steps for generating employment in the country like encouraging private sector of economy, fast tracking various projects involving substantial investment and increasing public expenditure on schemes like Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) run by Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) scheme run by Ministry of Rural Development and Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) run by Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation.
Government has also decided to strategically promote labour-intensive manufacturing and expand employment opportunities by promoting tourism and agro-based industries.
A new Scheme “Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana” has been announced in the Budget for 2016-17 with the objective of promoting employment generation and an allocation of Rs. 1000 crores has been made. The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2016-17.
Government has implemented the National Career Service having a portal (www.ncs.gov.in) for online registration and posting of jobs for job-seekers and provide other employment related services.
Government has also taken various steps to improve status of women workers and enhance employability, a National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) at Noida, Uttar Pradesh and ten Regional Vocational Training Institutes (RVTIs) under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship have been set up across the country. The Government has also approved eight new Regional Vocational Training Institutes for Women in the states where there is no existing RVTI.
(c) to (e): A proposal for amending the Maternity Benefit Act is under consideration for increasing the maternity benefit for working woman from existing 12 weeks to 26 weeks upto two surviving children and 12 weeks for more than two children. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 has been passed in the Rajya Sabha and is to be considered by the Lok Sabha.
The Ministry of Labour & Employment is administering Grant-in-aid scheme for welfare of women labour. Under the scheme financial assistance in form of Grant-in-aid is provided directly to NGOs for organizing working women and educating them about their rights and duties under various labour laws of Central/State Govt., legal aid and organizing seminars/workshop etc. aimed at raising the general consciousness of women labour. The total numbers of programmes conducted are 12837, in which total workers trained are 466628 in all sector. Out of which 367274 total number of women workers were covered for the year 2015-16.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing a number of schemes/programmes for empowerment of women across the country like Working Women Hostel Scheme for providing safe accommodation for working women away from their place of residence and Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for children of working Mothers (including single mother) which provides day care facilities for running crèche of 25 children in the age group of 0-6 years from families having monthly income of less than Rs. 12,000/.
Adequate provisions exist under various labour laws and rules made there under for improving the working conditions, regulating timings of work, safety of women, maternity benefit and payment of equal wages in various sectors. Under the provisions of Section 3 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the wages fixed by the appropriate government are equally payable to both male and female workers.
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