Rajasthan approves Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme

JAIPUR: Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot has approved the implementation of Indira Gandhi Shahri Rozgar Yojana. The scheme was first announced during the discussion of the budget 2022-23, and has been structured on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA).

Similar to the provisions in MGNREGA, upon request, the families living in urban areas will receive 100 days of employment per year. According to an official document released by the Local Self Government Department, Government of Rajasthan, expected annual expenditure for the same will be Rs 800 crore. The document also provides the rationale behind this move. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed major fault lines in the welfare system of our cities. It hit the informal sector the hardest, with migrant workers losing source of their employment. The MGNREGA proved to be a good safety net in those times providing record level jobs in the last few years. It also showed the under-utilised potential of the scheme in providing livelihood and alleviating poverty. Now, the state government hopes to provide a similar scheme for the urban poor such as street vendors, people working in dhabas, restaurants, etc.

The scheme only includes labour based works. These include tree plantation in public places, garden maintenance work, plants planted on footpaths, dividers, crematoriums and cemeteries, urban bodies, forest and agriculture departments, horticulture related work, water conservation works (construction repair and cleaning of rainwater harvesting, etc.), sanitation related work (door to door collection and segregation of urban waste and solid waste management work, cleaning of public urinals and community toilets), preventing defacement of property, encroachment and illegal hoardings, heritage conservation work and convergence with construction work under other urban schemes. Jan Aadhar card is mandatory for family registration under this scheme and Jan Aadhar card unit will be considered as family unit. Those who don’t have Jan Aadhar card, can apply for it on e-mitra center or municipality service center register under the scheme with the Jan Aadhar registration number.