Delhi: The first budget of the third term of the Narendra Modi government has been given full emphasis to solve the problem of unemployment, a major issue in the Lok Sabha elections. Its importance can be gauged from the fact that Finance Minister Sitharaman has mentioned the word employment 57 times in his budget speech. Ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, he has been talking about youth employment and the Modi government has also made provisions for unemployment in the budget.
Among the nine priorities of the budget, employment and skill development also ranks second. According to Sitharaman, this will provide employment to 4 crore 10 lakh youth in the next two to four years. Apart from that, two lakh crore rupees will be spent on this operation.
Three types of incentives have been announced for private companies under the Prime Minister’s Employment and Skill Training Package. Under the first incentive package, the first month’s salary of the youth who get jobs in private companies for the first time will be paid by the government. This salary will be paid in three installments.
The government estimates that this can provide employment to more than one crore youth in a year. 23 thousand crore rupees will be spent on this scheme which will last for two years. Apart from this, customers contributing to EPFO will be assisted in creating new jobs in the infrastructure (construction) sector. Under this, the government will pay a part of the employer and employees to be deposited in EPFO.
Along with this, a separate financial assistance has been announced for companies providing large number of first-time employers. In addition, the government will provide a portion of the salary of first-time job seekers in corporate and non-corporate companies that create 50 or more new jobs in a year.
The incentive amount will be divided equally between the employer and the employees. This also has a condition of salary less than one lakh rupees per month. But even if the salary is more than 25 thousand per month, the incentive amount of 25 thousand rupees will be given only on account of salary. This is estimated to provide employment to 50 lakh youth and will cost Rs 32 thousand crores.
During the training, the youth will get an internship of five thousand rupees per month. The cost of training will be met from the company’s CSR fund. Youth between 21 to 24 years can apply under this scheme. A total of 63 thousand crore rupees will be spent on the internship of one crore youth. Apart from that, the government also plans to upgrade 1000 ITIs in the next five years at a cost of 30 thousand crore rupees. It will give skill development to 20 lakh youth.
