Uttar Pradesh becomes first state to form panel on job security, skill development of workers

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has given its nod to set up a commission for job security and skill development of workers, said state minister Sidharth Nath Singh here on Tuesday. The minister said the proposal was approved during a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The chief minister has decided that the government will look after interests of workers, whether they are migrants or residents of the state, he said. With this, UP has become the first state in the country to think about safeguarding interests of its workers, the minister said.

Named as the UP Kamgar Shramik Sevayojan Avam Rozgar Aayog, the commission will have an executive board and district-level committees, Singh said, adding that at the state-level, the CM will be its chairman and the minister for labour its convener.

It will have ministers for industrial development and micro, small and medium enterprises as vice-presidents, Singh said. Ministers for agriculture, rural development, panchayati raj and urban development will be its members, the minister added.

In May, the UP CM had directed to set up a commission for extending job security to workers. The CM had also directed officials for extending insurance cover to them.

The UP minister said the panel will help provide employment and focus on skill development of workers, which will give a boost to the state economy.

The objective of the commissions is to provide employment to workers in private or non-government sectors as per their skill set besides increasing employment opportunities, a government spokesman said. The spokesperson said economic activities had come to a halt in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown, hitting workers hard.

Since Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state, the number of affected workers belonging to the state was also the highest, the spokesman said, adding that this was the biggest challenge before the state and the chief minister initiated prompt steps like providing maintenance allowance and ration kits besides increasing man-days under the MGNREGA.

On the role of the commission, he said it will act as a facilitator between labourers and industrials units. The commission will provide skilled workers to industrial units as per their demand and organise training programmes for skill development.

This training will be made available through an apprenticeship in industrial units, he said, adding that it will also work as a facilitator in case of demand from other states and countries and extend basic facilities like housing, social security, insurance at the place where they are being adjusted.

The employment department will collect the skill data of all workers. The executive board of the commission will have 14 members headed by the industrial development commissioner and at the district-level committees will be headed by DMs and have 19 members.

The executive board will monitor the working of the commission. The meeting of the commission will be held every month and that of the board every 15 days while the district-level committees will meet every week.

The CM has directed that the ministers in-charge of districts and the local legislators will be regularly apprised of its activities by the DMs concerned.