Explanation:

The ABVKY is a scheme approved by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) that aims to benefit its subscribers, who are mainly formal sector workers who have become unemployed for whatever reason, by providing cash through bank account transfer.
The ongoing Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana (RGSKY) benefits formal sector workers registered with the ESIC.
The labour and employment ministry said in its official statement on Wednesday that the move was necessitated “considering the change in employment pattern and the current scenario of employment in India which has transformed from a long-term employment to fixed short-term engagement”.
The government is signalling that permanent employees in the economy are on a decline and the industry is more inclined towards hiring workers on a contract now.
This has been facilitated by the government’s policy validating fixed-term employment for all businesses earlier this year.
The government allowed industries to hire workers on a fixed-term contract on condition that they receive similar allowances given to a permanent worker in the same organisation.
That said, due to the unavailability of official data on employment, there is no evidence to suggest that permanent jobs are on a decline and contract workers are being hired more.
The RGSKY was introduced in 2005 for employees who were left unemployed for three reasons - the closure of factory or establishment, retrenchment or permanent invalidity.
However, if an employee became unemployed for some other reason, no unemployment benefit was offered to him/her under the RGSKY scheme.
The ABVKY will provide cash allowance to ESIC subscribers who are unemployed for at least three months in a row after leaving their previous jobs, for reasons apart from retrenchment and factory closure.
The new scheme will be availed of by those who are insured by ESIC for a period of at least two years.
According to the ESIC, the number of beneficiaries declined largely because the allowance was solely dependent on closure of a factory or retrenchment.