UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 11-07-2020

Aatamanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM)

• Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launches AI-based ASEEM digital platform to bridge demand-supply gap of skilled workforce across sectors.
• The portal and App will have provision for registration and data upload for workers across job roles, sectors and geographies.
• ASEEM will be used as a match-making engine to map skilled workers with the jobs available.
• The skilled workforce can register their profiles on the app and can search for employment opportunities in their neighborhood.
• ASEEM portal aims at supporting decision and policymaking via trends and analytics generated by the system for programmatic purposes.

SWADES Skill Card

• Union Government has launched a skill-mapping exercise of the citizens returning to the country under the Vande Bharat Mission.
• SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support), is the joint initiative by

1. Ministries of skill development & entrepreneurship,
2. Ministry of civil aviation
3. Ministry of external affairs

• It aims to create a database of qualified citizens so as to tap their skill sets and experience to fulfill the demands of Indian and foreign companies.
• The returning citizens are required to fill up an online SWADES Skills Card that will facilitate a strategic framework to provide them with suitable employment chances.

India Global Week 2020 Summit

• It is an annual flagship event organized by India Inc., a London based media house to re-energies and ignite optimism at global level.
• It brings about an action-oriented focus by giving a forum to global deliberations from

1. Geopolitics to business,
2. Arts & culture to emerging technologies,
3. Banking and finance,
4. Pharma,
5. Defence and security,
6. Social impact
7. Diaspora dividend.

• Its flagship publication is known as India Global Business.
• The India Global Week 2020 is a three day virtual conference themed ‘Be the Revival: India and a Better New World’.

Cycles4Change Challenge

• The Smart Cities Mission, under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs opened the registration for India Cycles4Change Challenge.
• The Challenge aims to help cities connect with their citizens as well as experts to develop a unified vision to promote cycling.
• The Challenge is open to all cities under the Smart Cities Mission, capital cities of States/UTs, and all cities with a population of more than 5 lakh population.
• In October 2020, 11 cities will be shortlisted and will receive Rs. 1 Crore award and guidance from national and international experts to further scale-up the initiatives.
• Recent cycling initiatives in India Cities

1. Kolkata has proposed a dedicated cycle corridor by reclaiming parking spaces.
2. Guwahati is conducting a survey for citizens to vote for the best routes for bicycle lanes in the city, which will be incorporated into the Challenge.

PM-Ujjwala Yojana

• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched in 2016 to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
• It is implemented by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOP&NG)
• The scheme led to an increase in LPG consumption by 56% in 2019 as compared to 2014.
• However, while access to LPG gas stoves and cylinders has increased in the scheme, the use of LPG cylinders remains low.

PMGKY-Ujjwala

• Union government had announced a relief package “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana" aimed at providing a safety net to the poor and vulnerable who had been hit the hardest by the pandemic.
• The package also included relief for poor families who had availed of an LPG connection under PMUY.
• Under the PMGKY-Ujjwala, it was decided to provide free of cost refills for PMUY consumers for a period of 3 months w.e.f. 01.04.2020.
• This will benefit those PMUY beneficiaries who have been credited with the advance for buying the cylinder, but have not been able to purchase the refill.
• Thus, the beneficiaries who already have the advance transferred to their account can now take the free refill delivery till 30th September.

Extending EPF Contribution

• Union Cabinet has given its approval for extending the contribution both 12% employees' share and 12% employers' share under Employees Provident Fund from June to August, 2020.
• This measure is taken as a part of the package announced by the Government under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY).
• The salient features of the proposal are as under:

1. For the wage months of June, July and August, 2020, the scheme will cover all the establishments having up to 100 employees and 90% of such employees earning less than Rs. 15,000 monthly wage.
2. About 72.22 lakh workers working in 3.67 lakh establishments will be benefited and would likely to continue on their payrolls despite disruptions.
3. Government will provide Budgetary Support of Rs.4800 crore for the year 2020-21 for this purpose.
4. The beneficiaries entitled for 12% employers' contribution for the months of June to August, 2020 under Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY) will be excluded to prevent overlapping benefit.

PM-Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY)

• It is being implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and is operational since, 2016.

• It was launched for incentivizing employers for generation of new employment.
• The Government of India will pay the entire employer’s contribution (12 per cent or admissible contribution) towards the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) for all eligible new employees for all sectors for 3 years.
• All new eligible employees will be covered under the PMRPY Scheme till 2019-20.

Employees' Provident Fund Organization

• EPFO is a statutory body established by the Employees' Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
• It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.
• EPFO assists the Central Board in administering a compulsory contributory Provident Fund Scheme, a Pension Scheme and an Insurance Scheme for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India.
• It is also the nodal agency for implementing Bilateral Social Security Agreements with other countries on a reciprocal basis.
• The schemes cover Indian workers as well as International workers (for countries with which bilateral agreements have been signed.
• The EPFO's apex decision making body is the Central Board of Trustees (CBT).

Source: PIB