Growing demand for Urban Employment Guarantee Schemes

• India’s urban poor not only suffer higher unemployment rates but also higher inflation than their rural counterparts
• Yet there are few policy solutions by the Union government which are specifically targeted toward them.
• Indian state governments are looking favourably towards an urban version of MGNREGA to address this issue

History of Urban Employment Schemes

• India has had a history of urban employment schemes such as the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), which was launched in 1997.
• It provided employment to the unemployed and underemployed urban poor through self-employment and wage employment.
• In 2013, the SJSRY was replaced by the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM).
• But none of them were employment “guarantee” schemes.

Reasons for demand of Urban Employment Guarantee Schemes

• Urban distress: growing distress among the urban poor has remained largely unaddressed for a long time and Covid has exacerbated the problem
• Unemployment : the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy and Periodic Labour Force Survey shows that the unemployment rates are typically higher in urban areas.
• An analysis from Crisil has revealed that the urban poor are worst affected by India’s persistently high inflation.
• Informal work: Indian towns and cities continue to be plagued by the prevalence of low-wage, poor quality, informal work.
• PLFS data show that despite a rise in the prevalence of regular-salaried work, just over 50 per cent of the urban workforce remains either self-employed or in casual wage work
• Prioritisation of rural unemployment and poverty: most of the Union or state government schemes providing relief prioritise rural unemployment and poverty.
• Example: MGNREGA was introduced only for rural India
• Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, 2020, was launched to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers returning to villages in the wake of the Covid outbreak.

Urban Employment schemes by State governments

• The Rajasthan government has recently announced the start of the Indira Gandhi Shahri Rozgar Guarantee Yojana.
• This is an urban employment guarantee scheme on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
• Other such schemes are Kerala (Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme), Odisha (Unnati or Urban Wage Employment Initiative), Himachal Pradesh (Mukhya Mantri Shahri Ajeevika Guarantee Yojna or MMSAGY), Madhya Pradesh (Mukhyamantri Yuva Swabhiman Yojana) and Jharkhand (Mukhyamantri Shramik Yojana).

Way forward

• Each passing year creates another heap of poor and pushes India towards more inequality. The Union and state governments should take collaborative measures to address such major social issue as it hinders the overall national growth