| Date: |
03-04-2010 |
| Subject: |
Ministry rules out extending rural job scheme to export sector |
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The Commerce Ministry has rejected a proposal to extend the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to the export sector saying it is not feasible.
The Ministry said the problem of labour shortage in export units - as claimed by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) - cannot be addressed by linking MGNREGA and export promotion schemes, including the Special Economic Zone scheme.
This is because the export sector needs skilled workers, and therefore, such workers will have to be paid much higher than the unskilled MGNREGA workers.
Pointing out that exporters were asking for factory labour at MGNREGA wages, the Commerce Secretary, Dr Rahul Khullar, told Business Line that “the person who wants to work in export units and factories will ask for higher wages than MGNREGA wages. Besides, MGNREGA workers would prefer working near their homes in villages to working in factories far away.”
Under the MGNREGA, a household is entitled to a minimum of 100 days of wage employment in a financial year. FIEO, the apex body of exporters, recently suggested to the Ministry to extend MGNREGA to exporters with conditions such as providing 280 days of work a year for a household and that 60 per cent of workers employed should be women.
The FIEO President Mr A. Sakthivel said exporters are even ready to train unskilled workers in this regard due to the shortage of nearly five lakh workers in the export sector, mostly in textile units.
The Commerce Ministry wants exporters to first consult the Prime Minister's National Council on Skill Development and the Rural Development Ministry in charge of MGNREGA.
If certain sectors are facing labour shortage, they can approach the ministries concerned, such as the Textiles Ministry, Dr Khullar said, adding that the labour shortage in textile units was because employers are unwilling to engage workers on a permanent basis due to the seasonal nature of their business.
Source : Business Line
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