Latest News | Par Panel Expresses Dismay on Missing Targets Under Major Schemes of Labour Ministry

New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) A Parliamentary panel has expressed dismay over the non-achievement of physical targets under the labour ministry's major schemes like Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhaan Yojana in 2022-23.

"The Committee are concerned to note that in case of major schemes, the Ministry has not been able to achieve the physical targets during 2022-23," said Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, Textile and Skill Development in its 41st report on Demand of Grants (2023-24) of Ministry of Labour and Employment tabled in Parliament on Monday.

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It noted that physical targets for enrollments under Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhaan Yojana (PM-SYM) were fixed at one crore new beneficiaries while the beneficiaries enrolled have only been to the extent of 2,63,971 as of February 13, 2023.

Similarly, it observed that for the National Pension Scheme for Traders, shopkeepers and self-employed persons, the enrollments have been a miniscule 4,979 vis-a-vis the overall target of 25 lakh beneficiaries.

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In the case of the National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW), while the physical target was to register 5 crore unorganised workers, only 1.52 crore workers could be registered by February 7, 2023, it said.

The low level of enrollments has been attributed mainly to the outbreak of COVID-19 and resultant lockdowns imposed across the country during the period; eligibility conditions in the case of NPS Traders; the presence of other pension schemes, etc. as a result of which registration/enrollments were much less than anticipated, the report noted.

The constraints notwithstanding, the achievement recorded in regard to the target set for operationalising 59 Model Career Centres (MCC) has been to the extent of 100 per cent, it added.

Further, while 50 new MCCs were proposed to be established and operationalised, 177 MCCs were established and 2,400 SC/ST candidates were imparted vocational training/career counselling under Special Coaching Scheme as envisioned.

The committee acknowledged the presence of bottlenecks/constraints encountered by the implementing agencies in the process of achieving the targets.

It emphasised that now the effect of the pandemic has eased to a considerable extent and the ministry needs to put in place a robust mechanism to ensure that the schemes regain momentum and shortfalls in achieving the targets are offset.

Simultaneously, the review/revamp of PM-SYM and NPS-Traders may be undertaken on the basis of the third-party evaluation being conducted by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), it suggested.

The report noted that Rs 16,893.68 crore was allocated as BE (budget estimate) 2022-23, which was decreased to Rs 16,117.65 crore at the RE (revised estimate) stage, whereas the actual expenditure incurred as on February 21, 2023, was Rs 13,092.99 crore, which amounts to 81.23 per cent of the RE amount.

The scheme-wise analysis of the utilisation of funds for 2022-23 up to February 13, 2023, reveals that the Employee's Pension Scheme (EPS) and National Career Services (NCS) are the only schemes that recorded expenditure up to 90 per cent vis-a-vis RE provisioning whereas, for most other schemes, the percentage utilisation has been substantially low, it pointed out.

In the case of PMSYM, NDUW, Labour Welfare Schemes and Rehabilitation of Bonded Labour, the utilisation recorded has been 26.66 per cent, 30.02 per cent, 30.63 per cent and 48.30 per cent, respectively, vis-a-vis the budget provisioning.

The ministry had pleaded that despite shortcomings in the nature of the design of some schemes and other things beyond the control of the ministry, it is expected that 90 per cent of the RE will be utilised by the end of 2022-23.

The panel observed that gross under-utilisation of the funds has impacted the performance of certain schemes thereby defeating the laudable intent of these schemes in benefitting the targeted groups.

The committee, therefore, impress upon the ministry to leverage their spending pattern on such schemes where the utilisation percentage is not up to the mark so as to ensure optimal achievement of the 2022-23 allocations by the close of the Financial Year 2022-23, it suggested.

The panel was concerned to find that against the ministry's proposal for budgetary allocation of Rs 13,645 crore for 2023-24, the finance ministry has allocated Rs 13,221.73 crore.

The allocation for establishment expenditure has also been reduced by Rs 159.09 crore, which may impact the requirement for expenditure on salary, allowances, IT etc.

The finance ministry has indicated that the request for the additional fund for meeting the requirement of establishment expenditure will be considered at RE 2023-24 stage.

It emphasised that it is imperative on the part of the ministry to take up the matter with the finance ministry at the RE 2023-24 stage for obtaining requisite funds to ensure that the administrative work is not hampered for want of funds.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)