Dr. K. Murugan Assistant Professor Department of Economics Guru Nanak College Chennai-42.

1. Employment Generation
Programmes in India
by
Dr. K. Murugan
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Economics
Guru Nanak College
Chennai-42.

2. According to estimation by the Tendulkar
Committee the number of Below Poverty Line
(BPL) declined to 21.9 percent of the population
in 2011-12 from 29.8 percent in 2009-10 and
37.2% in 2004-05.
The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index-2018
by the UN noted that 271 million people moved
out of poverty between 2005/06 and 2015/16 in
India. The poverty rate in the country has nearly
halved, falling from 55% to 28% over the ten-year
period.
Still a big part of the population in India is living
Below the Poverty Line. As per Tendulkar
Committee this estimation is around 21.9% of the
total population of the country.

3.  1. Integrated Rural Development Programme
 The IRDP was introduced in 1978-79 and
universalized from 2nd October, 1980.
 The aim at providing assistance to the rural poor in
the form of subsidy and bank credit for productive
employment opportunities through successive plan
periods.
 On 1st April, 1999, the IRDP and allied programmes
were merged into Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar
Yojana (SGSY). The SGSY on organizing the rural
poor into self-help groups, capacity-building,
planning of activity clusters, infrastructure support,
technology, credit and marketing linkages.

4.  2. Jawahar Rozgar Yojana/Jawahar Gram Samriddhi
Yojana:
 Under the Wage Employment Programmes, the
National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) and
Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme
(RLEGP) were started in Sixth and Seventh Plans.
The NREP and RLEGP were merged in April 1989
under Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY).
 The JRY was meant to generate meaningful
employment opportunities for the unemployed and
underemployed in rural areas through the creation of
economic infrastructure and community and social
assets.

5. The JRY was revamped from 1st April, 1999, as
Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojana (JGSY). It now
became a programme for the creation of rural
economic infrastructure with employment
generation.
3. Rural Housing Indira Awaas Yojana:
LAY programme aims at providing free housing
to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in rural
areas and main targets would be the households of
SC/STs. It was first merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojana (JRY) in 1989 and in 1996 it broke
away from JRY into a separate housing scheme
for the rural poor.

6. 4. Food for Work Programme:
The Food for Work Programme was started in
2000-01 as a component of EAS full form??. It
was first launched in eight drought-affected
states of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan,
Maharashtra and Uttaranchal.
It aims at enhancing food security through
wage employment. Food grains are supplied to
states free of cost, however, the supply of food
grains from the Food Corporation of India
(FCI) godowns has been slow.

7. 5. Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY):
The JGSY, EAS and Food for Work
Programme were revamped and merged under
the new Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana
(SGRY) Scheme from 1st September, 2001.
The main objective of the scheme continues to
be the generation of wage employment,
creation of durable economic infrastructure in
rural areas and provision of food and nutrition
security for the poor.

8.  6. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005:
 It was launched on February 2, 2005. The Act
provides 100 days assured employment every year to
every rural household. One-third of the proposed jobs
would be reserved for women. The central
government will also establish National Employment
Guarantee Funds. Similarly, state governments will
establish State Employment Guarantee Funds for
implementation of the scheme. Under the programme,
if an applicant is not provided employment within 15
days s/he will be entitled to a daily unemployment
allowance.

9. Salient features of MGNREGA are:
I. Right based framework
II. Time bound guarantee of employment
III. Labour intensive work
IV. Women empowerment
V. Transparency and accountability
VI. Adequate funding by central government

10.  7. National Food for Work Programme:
 It was launched on November 14, 2004 in 150 most
backward districts of the country. The objective of the
programme was to provide additional resources
available under Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojna.
This was 100% centrally funded programme. Now
this programme has been subsumed in the
MGNREGA from Feb 2, 2006.
 8. National Rural Livelihood Mission: Ajeevika
 It is a part of National Rural Livelihood Mission
(NRLM)–the mission for poverty reduction is called
Ajeevika (2011).

11.  It evolves out the need to diversify the needs of the
rural poor and provide them jobs with regular income
on monthly basis. Self Help groups are formed at the
village level to help the needy.
 9. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna:
 The cabinet on March 21, 2015 cleared the scheme to
provide skill training to 1.4 million youth with an
overall outlay of Rs. 1120 crore. This plan is
implemented with the help of Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship through the
National Skill Development Corporation. It will focus
on fresh entrant to the labour market, especially
labour market and class X and XII dropouts.

12. 10. National Heritage Development and
Augmentation Yojna (HRIDAY):
HRIDAY scheme was launched (21 Jan. 2015) to
preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of
the country. This Rs. 500 crore programme was
launched by Urban Development Ministry in New
Delhi. Initially it is launched in 12 cities: Amritsar,
Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Ajmer, Mathura, Dwarka,
Badami, Velankanni, Kanchipuram, Warangal and
Amarvati. These programmes played/are playing a
very crucial role in the development of the all
sections of the society so that the concept of holistic
development can be ensured in the real sense.

13.  The central government is the welfare government
that is why its social welfare schemes are made to
increase the welfare of the general public. Schemes
of the Central Government have three categories.
These categories are “Core of Core Schemes”, “Core
Schemes” and Major Central Sector Schemes.
 There are around 6 schemes in the list of ‘Core of
Core Schemes’ and 28 schemes in the Core Sectors.
 The approval of projects under the Prime Minister's
Employment Generation Program (PMEGP)
increased 44% during the first five months (April -
August) of the financial year 2020-21.

14.  Khadi has approved and forwarded 1.03 lakh project
applications to the banks as compared to 71,556
projects during the corresponding period in 2019.
 The Government of India approved the introduction
of a credit linked subsidy programme called Prime
Minister's Employment Generation Programme
(PMEGP) in 2008 for generation of employment
opportunities through establishment of micro
enterprises in rural as well as urban areas.
 Administration: It is a central sector scheme being
administered by the Ministry of Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MoMSME).

15. Implementing Agency at the National
Level: Khadi and Village Industries
Commission (KVIC) - a statutory organization
under the administrative control of the
Ministry of MSME.
Features: It allows entrepreneurs to set up
factories or units.
Eligibility: Any individual, above 18 years of
age.
Only new projects/units are considered for
sanction of loans.

16.  Self-help groups that have not availed benefits under
any other public scheme, societies, production co-
operative societies, and charitable trusts.
 Maximum Cost of Project/Unit Admissible:
Manufacturing Sector: Rs. 25 lakh
 Service Sector: Rs.10 lakh
 Rural Areas: 25% for general category and 35% for
special category, which includes
SC/ST/OBC/Minorities, NER, Hill and Border Areas.
 Urban Areas: 15% for general category and 25% for
special category.
 Role of Banks: Loans are provided by Public Sector
Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Co-operative Banks

17.  The MoMSME has also launched a scheme of
‘second financial assistance’ to help the PMEGP
and Mudra units expand or upgrade.
 Challenges
 The Scheme is crippled by structural issues and high
rate of NPA. From 2015-16 to 2019-20, assistance of
Rs. 10,169 crore was provided. Out of this, Rs. 1,537
crore has turned out to be NPA.
 A deficiency in skills, lack of market study, low
demand and stiff competition are believed to be the
key reasons for such a large number of NPAs.
 While normally all central schemes are given definite
annual targets, this scheme is not driven by any such
target. As both the states and the banks work without

18. • Besides providing financial support, the
government needs to conduct an intensive training
programme to help potential entrepreneurs focus
on the right market and right products.
• The scheme can prove beneficial at the time when
the economy needs to recover from the effects of
the Covid-19 pandemic. Timely disbursal of funds is
crucial for execution of projects and creating
employment in the country.
•

19. • Scheme for Employment Generation in The Country
• Employment generation coupled with improving
employability is the priority concern of the
Government. 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 Affairs.

20. • Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) has
been initiated by Government for facilitating
self-employment. Under PMMY collateral free
loans upto Rs. 10 lakh, are extended to
small/micro business enterprises and to
individuals to enable them to setup or expand
their business activities. Till 25th January,
2019, total 15.59 crore loans have been
sanctioned under the scheme.

21. • Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana has been
initiated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment
in the year 2016-17 for incentivizing employers for
employment generation. Under this scheme,
Government is paying the entire employer’s
contribution (12% or as admissible) towards the EPS
and EPF for all sectors w.e.f. 01.04.2018 to all eligible
new employees for the next 3 years from the date of
registration of the new employee. Till 28th January,
2019, benefits have been given to 1.29 lakh
establishments covering 1.05 crore beneficiaries.

22. • Under Skill India Mission, Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship is
implementing a flagship scheme known as
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)
2016-20 with an objective to provide skilling
to one crore people under Short Term Training
(STT), Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and
Special Project (SP) across the country for four
years i.e. 2016-2020 with an outlay of Rs.
12,000 crore. Under the scheme, short
duration skill development training
programme is being imparted to all
prospective candidates including candidates

23. • Under PMKVY 2016-20, as on 24.01.2019, 37.32 lakh
(appx.) candidates have been trained under STT
(25.25 lakh), RPL (11.27 lakh) and Special Project (0.8
lakh) in the country. Under PMKVY 2016-20 scheme,
placement tracking is mandatory. The placement
data is reported within 90 days of certification of
trained candidate. As per data reported on SDMS, as
on 24.01.2019, 21.03 lakh candidates are certified
under STT and SPs of PMKVY 2016-20. The number
of candidates certified under STT and SPs of PMKVY
90 days prior i.e. 26.10.2018 is 19.39 lakh. Out of
these candidates, as on 24.01.2019, 10.64 lakh
candidates have been placed in various sectors
across the country.

24. • The focus of the meeting was on the Prime
Minister’s Employment Generation
Programme (PMEGP), a flagship scheme of the
Ministry of MSME, and Credit Guarantee Fund
Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises
(CGTMSE).
• In addition, the issue of restructuring of
stressed loans to MSMEs was also discussed
to find a way forward to support MSMEs. The
cut-off date for restructuring of loans to
MSMEs has been extended up to 31st
December 2020.

25. • The work done by the Banks in supporting setting up
large number of enterprises under PMEGP over the
past years, was commended, which has particularly
seen a two-fold increase in last Financial Year when
more than 73,000 micro enterprises were assisted.
• To give further boost to the scheme, the target in the
current year has been increased to support the
establishments of 80,000 units.
• Discussions were also held with Banks on increasing
the reach of Credit Guarantee scheme. Government
has set a target of increasing credit guarantee to Rs.
50,000 crores under this scheme, which is a jump of
about 67% over the last year.

26. • Prime Minister’s Employment Generation
Programme:
• Prime Minister’s Employment Generation
Programme (PMEGP) is a credit-linked subsidy
programme introduced by the government of India in
2008.
• It promotes self-employment through setting up of
micro enterprises, where subsidy up to 35 % is
provided by the Government through Ministry of
MSME for loans up to Rs. 25 lakhs in manufacturing
and Rs 10 lakhs in service sector.
• The scheme is administered by Ministry of Micro,
Small and medium Enterprises.

27. • The PMEGP Scheme is being implemented by Khadi
and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) at the
national level.
• At the State level, the Scheme is being implemented
through State Khadi and Village Industries
Commission Directorates, State Khadi and Village
Industries Boards and District Industries Centres and
banks.
• Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small
Enterprises (CGTMSE):
• The scheme was launched by the Government of
India to make available collateral-free credit to the
micro and small enterprise sector.

28. • Both the existing and the new enterprises are eligible
to be covered under the scheme.
• The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises, GoI and Small Industries Development
Bank of India (SIDBI), established a Trust named
CGTMSE to implement the Credit Guarantee Fund
Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises.
• Since its inception, CGTMSE has facilitated easy
access to credit from organized banking sector to
first generation entrepreneurs in the Micro and Small
Enterprises (MSE) sector.