Out of about 2.4 million migrant workers in 116 districts who have returned to their villages during the lockdown, only 5,000 people have got employment so far, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour here on Friday.

The data is based on the registrations made at the Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM) portal, started for mapping the skills of migrant workers who have returned to their villages during the lockdown.

The Ministry told the panel that 2.1 lakh jobs were posted in the ASEEM portal and 48,000 jobs were offered and only 5,000 got employed during this lockdown. The members of the panel, cutting across party lines, expressed displeasure at the slow pace in the functioning of the Ministry, sources in the panel said.

‘A discouraging figure’

The Ministry had identified 116 districts under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana to map the skills of the migrant workers. Mapping of unskilled, skilled and semi skilled migrant workers was done by the Ministry. “Employers had given consent for appointment, but we were told that hardly 5,000 were provided with a job. This is a very discouraging figure,” a member said.

The members also noted that the monitoring of the training offered by the Ministry to migrant workers has also not done properly. “There are no specific funds for this so-called training. Most of the members expressed their displeasure at the functioning of the Ministry,” the member added. In a separate briefing, the Rural Development Ministry told the panel that man days provided under the MGNREGS have been increased more than threefold. The Ministry also claimed that it has expanded the work of MGNREGS in rural areas.

The Chairman of the panel Bhartruhari Mahtab said that the committee will present a report on the condition of migrant workers soon. On August 17, the representatives of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution will brief the panel on the social security and welfare measures for interstate migrant, unorganised and informal sector workers.

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