Decision to scrap the Unemployment Relief Scheme (URS) Reactions from our readers |27 January 2021
The Unemployment Relief Scheme (URS) was set up to facilitate employment for the most vulnerable groups of society, with the aim of improving their quality of life in assisting them in securing a permanent employment. President Wavel Ramkalawan and his cabinet have taken the decision to shut down the URS. The announcement came three days after President Ramkalawan had stated in his first state-of-the-nation address last Friday before the Nation Assembly that the URS should remain temporary and all efforts should be made by the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs to ensure that those on the scheme find temporary employment.
Once again our newspaper brings you some of the reactions we received from our readers (some preferring to stay anonymous).
Anifa Karen Rosalie: “This I feel is a sensitive topic. I'm not political or anything but I feel the scheme was good but wrongly managed. This should have been a short-term solution and used as a bridge to permanent employment. I don’t think someone should be on a URS scheme for two years, it doesn't benefit the person nor the government. There should be more programmes that help the person joining to achieve growth not just have it there as a quick solution to a problem.”
An anonymous reader: “My take on URS...I am totally in favour of cutting down government expenditure and encouraging people to work, so scrapping the URS is a good idea. However is the timing right? The economy is not performing to full capacity, redundancy is inevitable for many and businesses are bound to close down. Our localisation programme should work hand in hand with any measures announced in the employment sector. So have we found the right balance or are we implementing in a haste without looking at the domino effect on people and vulnerable families? How much will this save government? It seems we are busy focusing on the small budgets and not the big salaries and expenditures in govt.
The majority of people on the URS are ex-convicts and drug users – not considered employable by a lot of businesses. Won’t they resort to a life of crimes? Are we ready for the aftermath of such measures or are we looking only at the economic side of it?”
Alafisi AccNou: “Time to introduce a Universal Basic Income Scheme whereby everyone qualifies for the MINIMUM basic salary (which may have to be recalculated) and all unemployed able bodies (no disability or health conditions stopping them) have to every 4 weeks bring in proof of 3 job applications per week (all employers must reply in writing) plus they can be called in for any work that comes available that they can do, even if it means IOT. If you are able (no health or personal cause not too) and refuse then URS benefit is stopped.”
Saul Accouche: “I remember the wise words of the late Guy Morel. He used to say: ‘You should close the door completely and only open little by little, because when you open it wide then it'll be difficult to close afterwards’. Now it has become very difficult to close and so I suppose the best thing to do is to get off as many who can work and help them find a job. The needier will have no choice but to do with less until they too can find some paid job. Agreed or disagreed, it is Mister Covid-19 that dictates our action while at the same time we should be as helpful as is humanely possible.”
Didier Monnaie: “Going to blast it as it is. CLOSING IT PERMANENT IS THE BEST DECISION. You'll be amazed how many young people are on that scheme from my district...full of them. Manman ek piti pe benefisye...si zot al travay zot pou mor. Zot trouve i pa ase tou sa ki zot gannyen...ler ou dir zot be akoz ou pa al rod en tyak tel landrwa pe rod dimoun, zot get ou gro lizye.
Zot le manze, bwar, fer gro parti, selman travay zot pa kapab....”
ER: “In my opinion, I think there need to be a good evaluation on all the participants from the place where they were placed. Go over it as an appraisal system, and then make a decision on individual basis. However it needs to be noted that there was a lot of abuse on this programme.”
Compiled by Vidya Gappy