Industrial Skill Development Allowance

What is the Industrial Skill Development Allowance?

Industrial Skill Development Allowance is a scheme of the Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Himachal Pradesh, under which financial assistance is given to workers who are newly employed in industrial units located in the state. The scheme was announced in the Budget Speech of the Chief Minister for the financial year 2018-19.

The policy problem the scheme addresses is a real one for a hill state. Himachal Pradesh has industrial belts in Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh, Paonta Sahib and Kala Amb, but a significant share of the workforce in those units has historically come from outside the state, while young Himachalis from the interior districts have found the first step into industrial employment hard to take. Industrial Skill Development Allowance is aimed at that first step. It supports the Himachali worker at the point of entering industrial employment, rather than paying an unemployed person to stay unemployed.

What distinguishes this scheme from the department's other allowances

• Payment is triggered by taking up a job, not by remaining jobless.
• The employer is part of the process. The industrial unit certifies the appointment and the continuation of employment.
• The unit must be located in Himachal Pradesh. Employment in another state does not qualify.
• It sits alongside, and is separate from, the department's Skill Development Allowance Scheme and Unemployment Allowance Scheme.

Who is eligible for the Industrial Skill Development Allowance?

You can be considered if:

• You are a bonafide resident of Himachal Pradesh and hold a bonafide Himachali certificate from the Tehsildar.
• You have been newly employed by an industrial unit situated in Himachal Pradesh, and have an appointment letter showing the unit's address and your date of joining.
• You remain on the unit's rolls through the period for which assistance is claimed.
• You hold a bank account in your own name, Aadhaar-seeded so that the transfer can reach it.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not a bonafide Himachali. The scheme is confined to residents of the state.
• Your employer's unit is outside Himachal Pradesh, however Himachali you are.
• You are not newly employed — a worker who has been with the same unit for years is outside the scheme's purpose, which is entry into industrial employment.
• You have left the job. Assistance follows continuing employment and stops when the employment stops.
• You are already drawing an unemployment allowance from the state for the same period. The two positions are mutually inconsistent: one is paid for being unemployed, the other for being employed.

How to apply for the Industrial Skill Development Allowance

1. Get your appointment letter in order first. Ask the industrial unit's HR or accounts office for a formal appointment letter on the unit's letterhead, stating your designation, date of joining and the unit's address in Himachal Pradesh. A verbal offer or a joining slip is not enough.
2. Collect the supporting documents; bonafide Himachali certificate, Aadhaar card, bank passbook, your employment exchange registration card if you have one, and any ITI, diploma or skill certificates relevant to the post.
3. Ask the unit whether it files on behalf of workers. Many industrial units in Baddi and Nalagarh handle these claims for a group of new joinees rather than sending each worker to the office individually. If yours does, submit your set to the HR office and take an acknowledgement.
4. Otherwise file at the district Labour and Employment office with jurisdiction over the unit's location, carrying the original documents and one photocopy set.
5. Get the claim acknowledged in writing with a diary or receipt number, and keep it. Following up without a receipt number is very difficult.
6. Arrange the employer's periodic certification of continued employment for as long as the assistance runs, and submit it when asked.
7. Confirm the bank credit and raise any non-credit with the office quoting your acknowledgement number.

What documents are required?

How do I check the status of my claim?

The Department of Labour and Employment does not run a public self-service status tracker for this scheme on its portal at labour.hp.gov.in, which is built mainly around labour licensing and registration services. Status has to be followed up at the office where the claim was filed.

1. Note the acknowledgement or diary number given when you filed.
2. Contact the district Labour and Employment office with that number.
3. If the unit filed on your behalf, ask the HR office for the batch reference under which your claim went.
4. Escalate to the Directorate at Shimla on 0177-2625277 or by email to lep-hp@nic.in if a claim is stuck for an unreasonable period.

Why claims get rejected, and how to fix them

• Appointment letter is vague about the date of joining or the unit's location. Ask for a corrected letter; this is the most common fixable defect.
• Unit is registered outside Himachal Pradesh even though the worksite is inside it. Sort this out with the employer before filing.
• Bonafide certificate not produced, or produced in a form the office does not accept. Apply for a fresh Bonafide Himachali Certificate through the HimSeva portal at himseva.hp.gov.in.
• Bank account not in the worker's own name or not Aadhaar-seeded, so the transfer bounces.
• Employment ended during the claim period without the office being told. Assistance stops with the employment, and drawing it afterwards creates a recovery.
• Name mismatch between the Aadhaar record, the appointment letter and the bank account.

A note on rates and current status

This guide deliberately does not state a monthly amount, a duration or an income ceiling for Industrial Skill Development Allowance. Those parameters are not published on the Department of Labour and Employment's own website, and the rates of state allowances are revised in budget announcements. Ask the district Labour and Employment office for the current rate and duration in writing before you plan around the scheme, and ask at the same time whether the scheme is open in the current financial year. A figure quoted on a private aggregator site is not a basis for a financial decision.

Help and grievance redressal

• Department of Labour and Employment toll-free number: 1800 180 8076
• Directorate of Labour and Employment: 0177-2625277, New Himrus Building, Circular Road, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
• Email: lep-hp@nic.in
• HimSeva citizen helpline: 0177-3525111, for bonafide and income certificates

Filing this claim is free. No agent can arrange the allowance, and no official will ask for your bank OTP.