Uttar Pradesh government has initiated the process to review of the policies framework for the labour-intensive industries for rebooting the industry hit by lockdown and creating more employment opportunities. The move has also been prompted by the immediate challenge to absorb more and more migrant workers in the industrial units in the state.
The policies for the industries under review/amendment include food processing, textile, dairy, tourism, handloom, and pharmaceutical. The UP government has already amended UP Agriculture Produce Marketing Act, making the process of procurement of agriculture commodities for food processing much less cumbersome. The state government has also suspended the operation of as many as 35 labour laws for three years.
Official sources said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had asked officials to fine-tune the existing policy framework to make it more “dynamic and competitive” so that lockdown-hit industrial activity is re-energised for job creation. The CM said that appropriate amendments to the existing policies be made to suit the contemporary needs, especially against the backdrop of the COVID-19 challenge.
The policies on the anvil for the proposed amendment include UP Food Processing Policy 2017, UP Milk Policy 2018, UP Tourism Policy 2018, UP Handloom, Powerloom, Silk Textile and Garment Policy 2017 and UP Pharmaceutical Industry Policy 2018. The CM has instructed officials for speedy clearances to the food processing proposals, so that they could be set up speedily and enriching the farm value chain.
“The maize crop is grown in abundance in the western and central parts of UP. Therefore, corn-based food processing industries be promoted in such regions and banana chips units could be encouraged in the Kushinagar region of eastern UP,” an official said.
Besides, the CM stressed upon spurring the dairy sector by strengthening the dairy committees at the local level. “We have to create a robust dairy supply chain and the farmers need to be provided with high quality milch cattle.”
The UP government has already initiated the process for accommodating the migrant labourers within the state. The government has signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with four industry chambers for providing employment to nearly 11 lakh migrant workers. The MoUs were signed with Indian Industries Association (IIA), FICCI, Laghu Udyog Bharati (LUB) and National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco), which have the mandate of generating 300,000; 300,000; 250,000 and 250,000 jobs respectively.
The government will share the migrants’ database with these chambers so that the workers could be absorbed in different industrial, real estate and manufacturing units depending upon their vocational skills and experience, especially the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). So far, the state has completed the skills mapping of 18 lakh migrant workers, who have been found to be possessing skills in varied segments viz. real estate, textile, electronics, electrical, farming, machine tools, paramedics etc.
“Till now, these people were contributing towards the development of other states, now we will harness their skills for building a New Uttar Pradesh,” said an official of the industries department. UP government has also announced to set up Migrant Labour Commission ‘Kaamgar/Shramik (Sevayojan Evam Rozgar) Kalyan Aayog’ for facilitating jobs and social security to the workers. The state will integrate district level employment exchanges with the Commission.
