Wed Jul 02 16:58:32 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a summarized version of the text formatted as a news article:

**Headline: India Expands Social Security Net, Launches Employment-Linked Incentive Scheme Amidst Mixed Reactions**

**New Delhi – July 2, 2025 -** Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya announced today that over 900 million Indians are now covered by some form of social security, a feat approved by the International Labour Organisation. This milestone coincides with the launch of the Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme, approved by the Union Cabinet, designed to bolster employment generation across the country.

Minister Mandaviya stated that the government would establish a “perfect mechanism” to implement the ELI scheme, drawing lessons from the 2020 Production Linked Incentive Scheme. The ELI scheme will provide first-time employees registered with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) up to ₹15,000, paid in two installments after six and twelve months of service, contingent on completing a financial literacy program. Employees earning up to ₹1 lakh are eligible. The scheme aims to incentivize employers enrolled under the EPFO to create new jobs.

The Minister also highlighted the government’s ongoing efforts to negotiate social security agreements with more countries, aiming to extend benefits to Indians working abroad. Social security will also be a priority in upcoming bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations.

However, the ELI scheme has drawn criticism from Left parties, with the CPI(M) denouncing it as a pro-corporate initiative that exploits workers by subsidizing corporate investment and labor costs using public funds. They are demanding the scheme be scrapped.

In contrast, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), a pro-government trade union, welcomed the ELI scheme as a positive step towards employment generation but emphasized the need to also prioritize quality of employment, job security, safe workplaces, and access to social security.

The government maintains that the ELI scheme will create new jobs and improve the social security landscape for Indian workers.

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