Beyond cattle and grass

Despite initial hiccups, the minimum work programme has great potential to address a post-pandemic job crisis.

The Prime Minister Employment Programme (PMEP) has so far been a dud. In the fiscal year 2018-19, it could provide only 13 days of work on average to around 176,000 individuals. In several cases, local units have been found to be lacking employment coordinators who are responsible for executing the project. This resulted in the allocated budget remaining unspent. What's more, several local units could not complete their projects, not to speak of those who could not even initiate their schemes in the first place.