The Minister for Labour and Employment Narendra Singh Tomar has said that it is the first priority of the Government to promote employment. Addressing the Conference of State Ministers for Labour & Employment in New Delhi today he said the Government is making an effort to promote relevant skill of the youth of the country along with employment. To achieve this, the Government is working on a scheme converting employment Exchanges into Career Promotion Centers. Referring to skill development, he said, the Directorate of Employment & Training proposes to revise and upgrade ITI syllabus and courses. Narendra Singh Tomar said that work has also begun to strengthen social security measures for the unorganized sector by strengthening and expanding the national health insurance scheme. He said it is the collective responsibility of the State and central Governments to identify and register 47 crore such workers and to reach them all entitled benefits as the subject is in the concurrent list of the constitution. Similarly, to implement all the International Labour Laws, there needs to be greater cooperation among all the States and the center.
Referring to the system of providing a universal account by the Employees Provident Fund Organsation of the Central Government,he said employees in the unorganized sector and Non-resident Indian employees can also take benefit of this. He said that the Conference is aimed at providing a platform for sharing views between the Centre and States on several issues and challenges in the world of employment. He hoped that these issues will be resolved amicably between the Centre and the States and to move forward. The Minister of State for Labour Employment Shri Vishnu Dev Sai, Secretary Smt. Gowri Kumar and Secretaries of the Labour Department of the State Governments and other senior officials participated in the meeting. The State Governments presented their views on Labour Laws, issues of social security for the organized and unorganized labor skill development etc.