Provision of quality employment is instrumental to achieving economic and social development. Ministry of Labour & Employment (MOLE) plays a pivotal role in facilitating employment-related services and protecting the interests and welfare of the employees. It done so by fulfilling its core mandates like managing social security needs of the workforce, collection and compilation of data on the status of employment condition of workers, providing employment related services, extending assistance to physically challenged and weaker sections of society in joining the workforce etc.

Shram Suvidha Portal:

• The Ministry of Labour & Employment has developed a unified Web Portal ‘Shram Suvidha’ – catering to four major organisations under its aegis:

1. Office of Chief Labour Commissioner (Central)
2. Directorate General of Mines Safety
3. Employees’ Provident Fund Organization; and
4. Employees’ State Insurance Corporation.

• Ministry of Labour and Employment has also been focusing on reforms in labour laws to address the emerging needs of the industry and economy at large.
• The Shram Suvidha Portal facilitates inspection of establishments in a scientific and transparent manner.
• It also provides for a common registration under Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and Employee’s State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and facilitates submission of monthly Electronic-Cum-Challan (ECR).
• The Shram Suvidha Portal provides for a transparent and accountable enforcement mechanism.

Vocational Training To Transform Jobs Into Careers:

Under the Directorate General of Employment & Training (DGET), Women’s Training teaches women to play different roles as workers, supervisors and entrepreneurs. Skills training for women will stimulate extra opportunities among women of various socio-economic strata and different age groups as well as create better homes and families.

Women’s Vocational Training Programme covers many areas such as:

1. Wage-employment in industry
2. As instructors
3. To promote self-employment

To efficiently enable this and give them head-start the Programme offers:

1. Industrial skills training under Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTs)
2. Instructor skills training under Craft Instructors Training Scheme (CITS)
3. Demand-driven short-term courses
4. Special programmes for training ITI Instructors
5. Tailor-made courses as per industry demand

• The Ministry has been working on Simplification, amalgamation and rationalisation of multiple existing Acts into four Labour Codes, viz., Code on Wages, Code on Social Security, Code on Indistrial Relations and Code on Occupation Safety, Health & Working Conditions.
• The “Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY)” is also being implemented from 2016-17 with the objective of incentivising industry for promoting employment generation

Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana:

• The Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana, or PMRPY Scheme is aimed at incentivising employers to generate employment, where the Government pays the employers’ Employee Pension Scheme share of 8.33 percent, for new employees for the first three years of their job.
• Government is paying 12 per cent towards EPS and EPF for all sectors for employers’ contribution since 1.4.2018 to all the eligible new employees
• It will be for the next three years and all new employees should have Universal Account Number (UAN) seeded with Aadhaar.

The approach of the government has been at striking the desired balance between quantitative and qualitative dimensions of employment so that employment emerges as a key catalyst for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030.