To benefit 39 crore workers in the unorganised sector and extend them EPF and ESIC and social security UWIN card will be introduced soon, Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya has said.
The smart card will bring them under health insurance of Rashtriya Swasth Bima Yojana, Aam Admi Bima Yojana and old age pension scheme and is intended to prevent exploitation of unskilled labour.
The Minister told a press conference here all employers would be given a labour identity number (LIN) and the employees universal account number (UAN) to credit EPF regularly and inform the same to the employees by SMS. Employers and employees have to register themselves on Srama Suvidha Portal, an initiative of the Narendra Modi government under its Sramayeva Jayate Yojana. So far, 8.3 lakh units and 4.3 crore employees have come under the portal.
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The initiative was aimed at preventing recurrence of inoperable amounts under EPF which now stood at a staggering Rs.27,000 crore that lay unclaimed. The EPF Act would be amended to bring employers with 10 workers under its net. Mr. Dattatreya said the demand of trade unions for minimum wage of Rs.15,000 a month on which the apex court gave guidelines was being discussed at the tripartite meetings and an inter-ministerial group had been set up for the purpose.
The inspector raj was done away with removing discretionary capacity, the Minister said adding random inspections were taken up at the instance of Central analysis wing wherever workers’ rights were under stress and the report should be uploaded in 72 hours.
While the amended Apprentice Act would increase the apprentice posts from 2.8 lakh to 20 lakh with an eye on the Make in India campaign and imparting the necessary skills, their stipend would be increased from Rs.2,500 to Rs.5,000. MP K Haribabu, Additional Labour Commissioner (Central) S R Chauhan, MLAs Palla Srinivasa Rao and P. Vishnu Kumar Raju and ESI Joint Director T.N. Nayak were present.
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