Crores to benefit from Govt schemes in current fiscal

February 26, 2009.

Government says, 30 crore poor people will get the benefits of health insurance by the end of next fiscal. Through a unique identity-cum-credit card, workers below the poverty line and their families will get an assured sum of 30,000 rupees annualy to avail this facility anywhere in the country. In an exclusive interview to AIR, the Labour Minister Mr Oscar Fernandes said, 25,000 cards are being issued daily and all the people will be covered by the end of the next budget. He also appealed to media, NGOs, civil society, Panchayati bodies, MLAs and MPs to help in creating awareness among the workers in the unorganised sector.

On the question of job losses in the country in the wake of global meltdown, the Minister said, the stimulus packages announced by the government will mitigate the problem. Mr Fernades said, under the Rajiv Gandhi Suraksha Yojana, a worker will now get six months salary in case of retrenchment and the workers will be retrained in newly created facilities by the government. He said, moreover the Labour Ministry will now record the number of job losses in the like manner in which it maintains the data for unemployed persons. Defending the decision to give 8.5 percent EPF rate, he said, the assured return is good enough in the current bleak economic scenario.

The government said that all closed and sick fertiliser units will be revived in 2 years time. Replying to supplementaries in Lok Sabha on Thursday, the Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Mr. Ramvilas Paswan said that an Empowered Committee has been set up to look into various options for revival of each of the closed units of Public Sector HFCL and Fertilizer Corporation of India. He said that the government has also decided to consider waiver in outstanding loans and interests in these companies after a final decision is taken post revival. He said that the government has already announced a new investment policy for setting up of new units in Urea sector to fill the supply gap. AIR correspondent reports that an MoU is being signed between the Ministry and GAIL to ensure availability of fuel for the Fertilizer units.

*******************************************************

*********************************************************************

****************************************************************************

*************************************************************************************