New Delhi: The Ministry of Labour and Employment is preparing a draft on a new social security scheme that would particularly focus on the informal sector and workers who are not covered by EPFO or ESIC schemes.
In what could be a masterstroke ahead of the 2019 General Elections, the central government has already started working on the blueprint of the scheme that aims at providing pension, insurance, maternity coverage and other benefits that otherwise elude this class.
An Indian Express report has stated that the Centre is consulting with the state governments seeking financial partnership in conceiving this mammoth project. The government is aiming at launching the project by the end of 2018, in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“At the present moment, in both EPFO and ESIC, the employer contributes and equal amount is contributed by the employee also. If you are covering the entire population, there will be one segment which will not be able to contribute at all. Now, for the segment below the poverty line, the government plans to foot the entire bill, in which case it has to be shared between the states and the Centre. So we need to bring the states on board,” the Indian Express report quoted a senior labour ministry official as saying.
The official further elaborated that some states already have a number of schemes in place that provide pension, insurance and maternity benefits to its people. “A pool of money is available already but we need to work out how much extra is required,” the official added.
Inviting comments and suggestions, the government has put up the draft code on the labour ministry’s website.
An estimated 83% of employed persons work in the unorganised sector. According to a survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), about 39.14 crore of the 47.41 crore who took the survey were employed in the unorganised sector. This significant part of the population who do not have any social security cover, will be the main target of this new scheme.
Comments
0 comment