Source: The Hindu
(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/01/18/stories/2008011853481400.htm)
Front Page
CCEA clears scheme to promote jobs for disabled
Special Correspondent
Scheme to create one lakh jobs for disabled per yearWill be open to companies
in the organised sector
NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday cleared a
scheme under which incentives will be given to the employers providing jobs to
the disabled. This is in pursuance of the National Policy for Persons with
Disabilities that was adopted in 2006.
The incentives will be in the form of payment by the government to the
employersÂ’ contribution to the Employees Provident Fund and the Employees State
Insurance for the first three years for their employees covered under the
Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation) Act and the National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with
Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act.
The scheme will be available only to those appointed after the date of the
sanction of the scheme. Also, the employers will have to continue to bear the
administrative charges of 1.1 per cent of the wages of the employees covered
under the Employment Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will give lump sum funds to
the Employees Provident Fund Organisation and the Employees State Insurance
Corporation as an advance, which will be later adjusted against individual
claims received from the employers. The amount will be replenished
periodically. Initially, the two organisations will be provided Rs. 5 crore
each, and in case there is a need for more, the amount will be enhanced.
A high-level committee, co-chaired by the Secretaries of the Ministry of
Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, will
monitor the implementation of the scheme. The Chief Provident Fund
Commissioner and the Commissioner of the Employees State Insurance Corporation
will be part of the panel as members.
The CCEA also cleared an outlay of Rs. 1,800 crore for the scheme for the
current Plan period. The scheme envisages creation of one lakh jobs for the
disabled a year. It will be a centrally sponsored scheme. It will be open to
companies in the organised sector. It will be applicable to employees with
wages up to Rs. 25,000 a month.
Chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the CCEA also approved revision in
the criteria under the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya scheme.
Under the new criteria, for the rural areas, administrative blocks where the
female literacy rate is below 30 per cent will qualify as educationally
backward blocks. For the urban areas, out of the 338 towns and cities
identified by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, 94 towns and cities with a
female literacy rate below the national average of 53.76 per cent will qualify
for the scheme.
Gauge conversion
The CCEA gave the nod for gauge conversion of the Ratlam-Mhow-Khandwa-Akola
section at a cost of Rs. 1,421 crore. The project will help better passenger
and freight traffic from Secunderabad and Chennai to Jaipur, Ajmer, Ratlam,
Indore, Khandwa, Akola and other towns in north-west Rajasthan. It will also
facilitate movement of military personnel and equipment to and from the Mhow
cantonment.
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