Labour Policy Reforms Ensure Empowerment Of Workers: Bhupender Yadav

Union Minister for Labour and Employment and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupender Yadav has said in the last 9 years India has done a lot for workers in both unorganised and organised sectors, under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Addressing a press conference on the achievements of 9 years of the Ministry of Labour & Employment in New Delhi today he said the country is now changing, reforming, and simplifying labour laws. Shri Yadav said with this in mind 29 labour laws have been converted into 4 simple labour codes. He said this will ensure the empowerment of workers via minimum wages, job security, social security and health security.

Shri Yadav highlighted various flagship schemes meant for the welfare of workers such as e-Shram Portal, National Career Service (NCS), Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY), Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan Scheme (PM-SYM) and how these have benefited workers.  

Shri  Yadav said that the e-Shram portal is one of the key initiatives to create a national database for unorganised workers. A total of 28.93 crore unorganised workers have registered on the portal in more than 400 occupations. More occupations will be added.  He said the e-Shram portal is also integrated with NCS and Skill India Portal (SIP) portal.

The Union Minister mentioned National Career Service (NCS) was Launched in 2015 to provide a variety of employment-related services on digital platforms. He said as on 31.05.2023, the NCS platform has 3.20 crore registered Jobseekers, 11.25 Lakh active employers and 6.42 lakh active vacancies. He said vacancies mobilized since its launched are more than 1.39 Crore. It is integrated with e-Shram, Udyam and Skill India Portal (SIP), he added.

Shri Yadav said Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)-linked Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY)  was launched on 30.12.2020 with an expenditure of ₹ 22,810 crore for the period i.e. FY 2020-2024 to boost employment generation and to minimize the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 pandemic.                                                     

He said as of 30.05.2023, 1,52,278 establishments have claimed benefits amounting to ₹ 9382.16 Crores in respect of 60.40 Lakh beneficiaries.

Shri Yadav said around 44.33 lakh beneficiaries have been enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan Scheme (PM-SYM) as on 31.05.2023 which was launched on 15th February 2019  assuring a minimum monthly pension of Rs.3000/- after the age of 60 years to the workers of unorganized sector.

The Union Minister said Shram Suvidha Portal (SSP) was Launched on 16th October, 2014 to promote effective, efficient and real-time governance by bringing transparency and accountability in labour laws, easing compliance and reducing transaction costs. Also integrated with the National Single Window System Portal (NSWS) of DPIIT, it enables investors to apply for licenses and registrations under labour laws on single sign-on at NSWS, he added.

Shri Yadav also highlighted various policy reforms such as decriminalization under Labour codes, Maternity Benefit, Welfare for SC/ST job seekers and Labour welfare scheme for Beedi/cine/Non-Coal Mines workers, in the last 9 years. He said notified paid maternity leave was increased from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for two surviving children and 12 weeks for more than two children. Commissioning / Adopting Mothers’ will get 12 weeks of paid maternity leave for the first time, he added.

The Union Minister also highlighted major developments in ESIC in the last nine years.  The numbers of districts covered under ESI Scheme increased from 393 in 2014  to 611 at present. Insured Persons and beneficiaries are 3.10 crore and are 12.03 crore respectively at present compared to 2.03 crore IPs and 7.89 crore beneficiaries in 2014. Number of hospitals increased from 151 in 2014 to 161, similarly,  dispensaries also increased from 1418 to  1502. Medical colleges are  8 presently as compared to 4 in 2014. The number of MBBS seats increased from 400 in 2014 to 950. The number of MD/MS seats increased from 60 in 2014 to 275. DNB broad speciality seats are 81 now, whereas there was no seat in 2014.In 2019 contribution rate was reduced to 4% from 6.5%. Future expansion of ESIC includes 89 new hospitals with additional 10120 beds and 202  new dispensaries.

Highlighting major developments in EPFO Shri Yadav said Memberships of EPFO increased from 15.84 crore in 2014 -15 to  27.73 crore in 2021-22. Claim settled to the tune of Rs130.21 lakh in 2014-15 , which increased to Rs390.97 lakh. Coverage of establishments was 8.61 lakh in 2014-15 and increased to 18.65 lakhs in 2021-22. The number of pensioners was 72.73 lakh in 2021-22 as against 51.04 lakh in 2014-15. Shri Yadav said major reforms in EPFO are Universal Account Number (UAN) launched in 2014 wherein each PF member is allotted UAN which acts as an umbrella account for his multiple PF account numbers, extending all services through a single number; e-Passbook facility provided to EPF subscribers through which balance in PF account can be checked online; E-Collection of contributions through internet banking which has resulted in the saving of time, effort and money for employers; introduced Digital Life Certificate for pensioners which has done away with the requirement of pensioners to be physically present in banks or PF offices for submission of life certificate; revamped Online EPFiGMS portal for faster redressal of grievances of PF subscribers. He said EPFO services were added on Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) platform in 2017 wherein members can view their e-passbook, and raise/track their claims etc.