NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JUNE 19
Government think tank Niti Aayog has formed a panel, including top officials of tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Tech Mahindra, to develop a job platform for migrant labourers, according to sources involved in the project.
The move comes at a time when a huge number of migrant workers have lost their jobs during the lockdown period.
The goal is to develop a platform that can help blue-collar workers find job opportunities in their own language and location, an industry source said.
The platform will connect job seekers, employers, government agencies, skill centres and external partners using new-age technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, the source said.
“Niti Aayog under the leadership of its CEO, Amitabh Kant has formed a high-powered committee to drive public and private partnership in order to engage and develop technologies that can solve this looming crisis and provide better job opportunities to the migrant workers,” the source said.
The panel has some prominent names from the industry, including Reliance Industries President Kiran Thomas, Microsoft India President Anant Maheshwari, Tech Mahindra MD and CEO CP Gurnani, Google India country manager and vice- president Sanjay Gupta, Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal, among others.
“With the pandemic continuing to create disruptions and lockdowns virtually bringing the economy to a standstill, lakhs of blue-collar workers and migrant labourers were left stranded without a job forcing them to return to their native places. The panel will look at the technology-based solution to resolve the issues being faced by the migrant labours,” the source said.
As per estimates, there are over 40 crore workers in the unorganized sector accounting for around 30 per cent of India’s GDP and nearly 60 percent of these migrant workers are either semi-skilled or unskilled who struggle every day to find the right job opportunity.
“The platform will cover the digital divide by providing these workers with an opportunity to find jobs, acquire requisite skill sets, find training centres that will provide them with the opportunity to train in their local language. This will also help the job providers with addressing their specific category of labour and worker requirements, location-based searches and adequate reference checks,” the source said.
The project would come up with a multilingual application that can be accessed via feature phones and help identify location-based jobs, skill development gaps.
“MSME secretary A K Sharma has been also engaged in this project,” the source said.
The government is also working to start a pan-India helpline number for migrant workers to report their grievances, according to an official note.
