Top functionaries of the Union Labour and Employment Ministry said last week that the Ministry was working on a mechanism to process accident insurance claims by unorganised workers registered on the e-Shram portal, which has seen over 27 crore registrations so far.
The portal was launched six months ago with the aim of creating a national database of unorganised workers and to facilitate social security schemes for them. Among the promises made at the time was that the workers would be eligible for ₹2 lakh as accident insurance.
A senior official of the Ministry said discussions were on to link the e-Shram portal with the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, the Centre’s existing accident insurance scheme. The scheme would allow the workers to get the direct benefit transfer (DBT) through the e-Shram unique ID number. The official added that the unique IDs on the e-Shram portal carried the same series from the Employees Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) universal account number (UAN).
Another functionary said that a “mechanism for disposal” of the claims was in the works. At the time the portal was launched in August 2021, the Ministry had estimated that there were 38 crore unorganised sector workers in the country. According to the Ministry functionary, an analysis of the registrations so far was being carried out and a new campaign to get more workers to register would also be planned.
In her Budget Speech 2022-2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the linking of four portals _ the National Career Service, e-Shram, UDYAM (for those interested in starting MSMEs) and ASEEM (Atmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping). The Labour Ministry announced on April 20 that the inter-linking of the NCS and e-Shram portals had been completed recently.
“This linkage has enabled unorganised workers registered on e-Shram to seamlessly register on NCS and look for better job opportunities through NCS. So far, more than 26,000 e-Shram beneficiaries have registered on NCS and have started benefiting from this linkage,” the Ministry had said in a statement.
