Govt plans to provide employment to 1 crore people in next 2 years: Dattatreya

Bengaluru: The government intends to provide employment to one crore people in the country in the next two years, Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya said Tuesday.

The Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment also noted that the government's skill development initiative has contributed towards creating a skilled work force in the country.

"Employer-employee relationship has been cordial after the Narendra Modi-led government came to power, so I am fully confident that we will provide one crore people with employment in the next two years," he said after inaugurating the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) nursing college and auditorium here.

Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilisers and Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar and MP P C Mohan were present at the event.

Speaking about the various "positive" legislations brought in by the department after the NDA government came to power, Dattatreya expressed hope that the new wage and industrial relations codes will be passed in the Parliament's next session.

"I am confident that we will bring this wage, industrial relation codes to the parliament in the next session and get it passed. It will benefit labourers and the working class," the minister said.

He said there were 44 central labour laws.

"We are going amalgamate all these labour laws and rationalise it into four labour codes- wages, industrial relations, social security and safety, health and working conditions," the minister said.

He also announced that a 200-bed ESI hospital will be set up at Bommasandra in Bengaluru at a cost of Rs 150 crore, and 100-bed hospitals will be set up in Shivamogga, Narasapura, Harohalli and Ballari.

The 50-bed hospitals at Hubballi and Davangere will be upgraded to 100 beds, Dattatreya said.

Noting that the ministry has taken a decision to upgrade 500 of the 1,500 dispensaries in the country into six-bed hospitals in the first phase, Dattatreya said in Karnataka, 12 dispensaries will be upgraded at a cost of Rs 100 crore and the cost will be borne by the ESIC.

Union minister Ananth Kumar said the Ministry for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Pharmaceuticals would sign a MoU in 15 days with the labour ministry to have the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Kendra at hospitals run by it, to provide affordable generic medicines.