New Delhi: In a move that will be welcomed by a section of the society whose livelihoods were affected by the COVID-induced lockdown, Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Saturday that the Central government will pay both employer and employee’s provident fund (PF) contributions till 2022.
The beneficiaries will be those who were called back to work for small-scale jobs in the formal sector after losing employment.
The Finance minister also spoke about the Centre’s effort to support migrant workers who returned to their native place after losing jobs in the informal sector.
“If in a district, more than 25,000 migrant workers working in the informal sector return to their native place, they will get benefits from 16 Central schemes for employment. In 2020, we increased the MGNREGA budget from Rs 60,000 crore to around Rs 1 lakh crore due to Covid,” the minister added.
Sitharaman was in Lucknow for the launch of several schemes and initiatives in UP.
