The unemployment situation in Uttar Pradesh is “very serious and alarming,” Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said on Monday.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha by Harinarayan Rajbhar (BJP) during Question Hour on whether the government had done any study on the impact of global slowdown on labour and industry, especially cotton mills, the Labour Minister said the unemployment rate in UP was higher than the national average.
“The national average is 5.8 per cent; in rural areas it is 3.4 per cent and in urban areas, 4.4 per cent. In Uttar Pradesh, it is 5.6 per cent in rural areas and 6.5 per cent in urban areas, and now it has increased to 5.8 per cent,” he said, adding that it “is quite high.”
Regarding cotton mills in UP, the Minister said the workers affected due to retrenchment would get benefits under the Industrial Disputes Act and 50 per cent of their last month’s wages, adding that he would coordinate with the UP government to resolve the problem.
Contract workers In a written reply to another question by Anil Shirole (BJP), the Minister informed the House that a proposal to allow employer or contractor hiring contract labour to file a unified annual return was under consideration.
Meanwhile, the number of contract workers in the Central sphere has increased to 1.84 million in 2015-16 from 1.74 million in 2014-15 and 1.75 million in 2013-14.