A letter has been sent to the State Government to expedite effective utilization of funds allocated to States under various skill development schemes which will not only stimulate the economy but also create world class modern infrastructure of skilling of youth. In order to prepare a roadmap for future action I had called a meeting of trade union representatives. The Indian Labour Conference scheduled to be held today and tomorrow is going to deliberate inter alia, on this vital issue. While the steps taken by us so far will mitiage the sufferings of workers to some extent, much more needs to be done by the Government and social partners. We look forward to valuable suggestions and support from hon. Members of Parliament to meet this challenge. Sir, I am extremely surprised the way in which the hon. Member of the Government has made a statement. It is too innocent to describe the present situation it is too unpardonable because it does not hold out any hope for the future with regard to the retrenchment. Sir, I object on the first line which says global financial crisis has affected certain segments of the Indian economy. No The Government cannot hide behind the global meltdown to hide its own failure to generate job in the country. This retrenchment was going on even before that. The Government tries to hide behind the global meltdown. The second point that he had made is that he is too generous to extend unemployment benefit for a year to the retrenched employees. But who are they? They are in the organized sector, who constitutes three per cent of the labour force of the country. Ninety-seven per cent of the labour force is in the unorganized sector. Sir, if they accept that the job loss is a national calamity, why there has been no mention of it in the Presidential speech.
