The Finance Minister listed 9 major priorities of the budget, the second of which was employment and skilling. So, What all steps have been taken to improve the employment situation of the youth –
1. Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech has proposed the creation of employment for 4.1 crore youth over the next five years. And to make this plan successful the govt. aims to spend Rs 2 lakh crore.
2. To skill the youth so they are capable of the job opportunities the govt. has proposed to share Rs. 1.48 crore. Under the skill youth project, the govt. plans to train 20 lakh youth over the period of 5 years.
3. Over the next 5 years, 1000 inductrial training institutes will be upgraded.
4. Sitharaman introduces 3 incentives for first timers, emmployers, job creation:
first timers: govt. to provide one month wage to all persons newly entering the workd force in all formal sectors. The first month salary will be transferred to the first timers via direct benefit transfer in 3 installments upto 15,000 Rs
( the benefit of this scheme would be, the first timers won’t have to wait till the end of the month to receive their pay and they would be able to cater any immediate financial need amidst the month)
This scheme is for only those who are registered under: Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation. It aims to benefit upto 10 lakh youth.
Employees: This scheme focuses on creating more jobs in the manufacturing sector by encouraging companies to hire first-time employees.
Incentives will be given to both employees and employers based on their EPFO contributions during the first four years of employment.
Job creation: This scheme will support employers by covering extra employment costs across various sectors. Any additional employment with a salary up to ₹1 lakh per month will qualify. The government will reimburse employers up to ₹3,000 per month for two years for their EPFO contribution for each additional employee they hire.
According to Sitharaman, this scheme aims to incentivize the hiring of 50 lakh (5 million) more people.
Besides the three employment-linked schemes, the Finance Minister also emphasized the importance of including women in the workforce and training 20 lakh (2 million) youth through a centrally sponsored scheme.
5. For fresh Young Bloods straight out of college, the Finance Minister said tha tthe govt will launch internship opportunities in 500 companies for 1 crore youth in 5 years period, In which the interns will also get an allowance of Rs 5000 per month. The funding division of this scheme would be – The company will cover 10% of the intern training costs from their CSR funds, while the government will pay the remaining 90%.
