New Delhi: The government has been able to generate employment in key sectors amid uncertainties with resurgent waves of mutant variants, supply-chain disruptions, and a return of inflation.


As per the Economic Survey document released by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (PM-GKRA) generated 50.8 crore man-days employment as of July, 21 with an expenditure of Rs 39,293 crore.


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The PM-GKRA is aimed at immediate employment & livelihood opportunities to returnee migrant workers across six states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.


On the other hand, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) 2021-22 as of November 2021 provided employment to 8.85 crore. Funds of Rs 68,233 crore were released.


While Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) aimed to reduce the financial burden of the employers and encourage them to hire more workers, implemented by EPFO. As of November 2021, the benefit reached out to 39.43 lakh beneficiaries through 1.15 lakh establishments.


The urban unemployment rate rose to 20.8% in India in the first quarter of 2020-21, the Survey said. However, as Covid-related restrictions eased and economic sectors opened up, all three labour market indicators -- labour force participation rate (LFPR), worker population ratio (WPR) and unemployment rates (UR) -- showed a “swift recovery”


Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) contribute significantly to the economic and social development of the country by fostering entrepreneurship and by generating employment opportunities.


The revision in the definition of MSMEs brought in 2020 as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat package introduced composite criteria of investment and annual turnover- and identical limits for the manufacturing and services sector.


The modified definition of MSMEs will facilitate the expansion and growth of these enterprises. The survey mentioned those resulting economies of scale can enhance productivity without the MSMEs losing out on several government incentives including market support, export promotion, preferential procurement in the public sector, and incentives through the Micro Small Enterprises- Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP), Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) and Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) and enabling of IT ecosystems.


This enabling environment will promote competition and avoid dwarfism among MSMEs. The recent measures taken by the government to improve the ease of doing business for the MSMEs include the launch of the new Udyam Registration Portal in July 2020.


The registration process under this is fully online, digital, paperless, and is based on self-declaration. No documents or proof are required to be uploaded for registering as a micro, small and medium enterprise. Aadhaar and PAN are required for registration and details on investment and turnover of enterprises are taken automatically from relevant Government databases.


As of January 2022, around 66,34,006 enterprises have registered on the Udyam portal, out of which 62,79,858 are micro; 3,19,793 are small; 34,355 are medium enterprises. Further, among the new measures, the retail and wholesale trades were included as MSMEs and they are allowed to be registered on Udyam Registration Portal. However, the benefits to retail and wholesale trade MSMEs are to be restricted to Priority Sector Lending only. In this regard, now, street vendors can also register as retail traders on Udyam Registration (UR) portal and avail the benefit of priority sector lending.


Allocation to MGNREGS in FY 2021-22 increased to Rs73,000 crore, from Rs61,500 crore in FY 2020-21. Allocation for FY 2021-22 has been enhanced to Rs 98000 crore so far. In FY 2021-22 over 8.70 crore individuals and 6.10 crore households were provided work so far.


Boosting Self-employment


Till December 2021, 8.07 crore households are mobilized into SHGs. The number of SHG households engaged in farm livelihoods in 2021-22 (till December 2021) stood at 1.47 crore as against 1.16 crore in 2020-21 and 0.86 crores in 2019-20. The number of SHG members involved in non-farm livelihoods in 2021-22 increased to 1.82 lakhs (till December 2021) members from 1.55 lakhs in 2020-21 and 0.98 lakhs in 2019-20