Unemployment in Rural Areas

Reliable estimates of employment and unemployment are obtained through quinquennial labour force surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Organization. Last such survey was conducted during 2004-05. As per latest survey report, number of unemployed youth in the age group of 15-29 was estimated at 8.87 million on usual status basis during 2004-05. State-wise details of unemployment rates amongst youth in both rural and urban areas on usual status basis are as under:

Sl. No.	State/Union Territory	Rural	Urban
1.	Andhra Pradesh	1.8	8.5
2.	Arunachal Pradesh	2.5	4.8
3.	Assam	6.8	19.9
4.	Bihar	4.3	17.4
5.	Chhattisgarh	1.3	7.6
6.	Delhi	5.1	10.8
7.	Goa	26.0	18.5
8.	Gujarat	1.4	4.9
9.	Haryana	5.5	9.3
10.	Himachal Pradesh	4.2	9.7
11.	Jammu & Kashmir	4.1	13.6
12.	Jharkhand	3.7	18.6
13.	Karnataka	1.5	6.4
14.	Kerala	26.8	32.5
15.	Madhya Pradesh	1.0	7.3
16.	Maharashtra	2.7	8.4
17.	Manipur	2.6	17.4
18.	Meghalaya	0.7	10.7
19.	Mizoram	0.8	4.8
20.	Nagaland	5.5	18.9
21.	Orissa	10.2	31.7
22.	Punjab	9.7	10.5
23.	Rajasthan	1.8	6.2
24.	Sikkim	6.4	7.9
25.	Tamil Nadu	3.5	8.2
26.	Tripura	32.1	60.1
27.	Uttarakhand	3.3	12.2
28.	Uttar Pradesh	1.5	7.4
29.	West Bengal	6.0	13.2
30.	A&N Islands	13.2	21.5
31.	Chandigarh	6.2	13.9
32.	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	6.9	7.9
33.	Daman & Diu	0.6	4.9
34.	Lakshadweep	16.7	45.5
35.	Puducherry	18.3	25.5
	All India	4.0	10.1

Unemployment rates according to usual status during 2004-05 were 1.7 per cent and 4.5 per cent in rural and urban areas of the country respectively, showing lower rate of unemployment in rural areas.

Government has taken several steps to provide employment to unemployed persons including youth in the country. 11th Five Year Plan aims at creating 58 million work opportunities through normal growth process and by implementing various employment generation programmes, such as, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP); Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the rural areas besides entrepreneurial development programmes run by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises.

Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), a credit linked subsidy programme being implemented since 2008-09 by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, aims at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro enterprises by organizing traditional artisans and unemployed youth. During the year 2010-11, 30,729 units were assisted and 2.85 lakh persons provided employment upto 10^th Feb, 2011 and Rs. 593.66 crore have been provided as margin money till January, 2011.

Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) is a holistic self employment scheme which aims at providing sustainable income to rural BPL families through income generating assets/ economic activities so as to bring them out of poverty line. During 2010-11 upto January, 2011, Rs. 1880 crore has been released by the Central Government and 14.85 lakh swarojgaries have been assisted.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) provides for enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Rs. 32177.04 crore has been released as Central fund in the current financial year till 22.02.2011 and 158.58 crore of person days employment was generated upto January, 2011.

This information was given by Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Minister for Labour And Employment in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

MGNREGS Workers under RSBY

The Government is planning to extend Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to such Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) workers as have completed 15 days or more during the previous financial year. The premium will be shared between Central and State Government in the ratio of 75:25. In case of States of North-East region and Jammu and Kashmir, the premium will be shared in the ratio of 90:10. Additionally, the cost of smart card of Rs. 60 will be borne by the Central Government. The worker will not be required to pay any premium and will have to pay Rs. 30 only as registration fee.

A statement showing the number of BPL families covered under RSBY is as under:

Sl. No.	Name of the State/UTs	Smart card issued
		2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-11 (upto 28.02.2011)
1.	Arunachal Pradesh	-	-	13,365
2.	Assam	-	81,565	2,04,465
3.	Bihar	5,57,002	20,38,909	46,00,079
4.	Chandigarh	3,627	5,407	4,913
5.	Chhattisgarh	-	9,27,672	10,92,647
6.	Delhi	41,990	2,18,055	2,18,055
7.	Goa	1,679	3,505	0
8.	Gujarat	6,70,517	6,82,354	19,19,086
9.	Haryana	4,01,587	6,82,354	6,03,609
10.	Himachal Pradesh	78,370	115828	2,37,946
11.	Jharkhand	1,01,219	4,34762	12,44,366
12.	Karnataka	-	36,971	1,57,405
13.	Kerala	7,03,570	11,73,388	*17,96,315
14.	Maharashtra	1,35,804	14,40,407	15,90,048
15.	Manipur	-	-	18,259
16.	Meghalaya	-	22,579	50,271
17.	Mizoram			15240
18.	Nagaland	7,645	39,301	39,290
19.	Orissa	-	3,41,653	4,33,079
20.	Punjab	76,528	1,69,306	1,92,544
21.	Rajasthan	1,20,123	Discontinued the scheme
22.	Tamil Nadu	57,925	1,49,520	0
23.	Tripura	-	1,45,780	2,58,402
24.	Uttar Pradesh	8,34,871	42,96,865	46,76,797
25.	Uttarakhand	50,071	53,940	3,13,840
26.	West Bengal	1,19,327	8,02,974	35,04,475
	Total	39,61,855	1,38,65,338	2,31,84,496

The scheme has been extended to building and other construction workers registered under the Building and other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Act, 1996 and street vendors.

The Government proposes to extend RSBY to MGNREGA beneficiaries, beedi workers and also to unorganized sector workers in hazardous mining and associated industries like slate and slate pencil, dolomite, mica and asbestos etc.

This information was given by Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Minister for Labour And Employment in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.