Mechanism to process unorganized workers’ accident claims in the works, says Ministry

What is the News?

The Ministry of Labour and Employment is working on a mechanism to process accident insurance claims by unorganized workers registered on the e-Shram portal.

What is e-Shram Portal?

The Ministry of Labour and Employment had launched the e-Shram Portal with the aim of creating a national database of unorganized workers and facilitating social security schemes for them. 

During the launch of the portal, the Government has said that the workers registered on the portal would also be eligible for ₹2 lakh as accident insurance.

How will the accidental insurance cover be provided?

The government is planning 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 unique IDs on the e-Shram portal carried the same series from the Employees Provident Fund Organization(EPFO) universal account number(UAN).

Note: In Budget 2022-2023, the Finance Minister had announced the linking of four portals such as the National Career Service, e-Shram, UDYAM (for those interested in starting MSMEs) and ASEEM (Atmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping). 

Among them, the inter-linking of the NCS and e-Shram portals had been completed. This linkage has enabled unorganized workers registered on e-Shram to seamlessly register on NCS and look for better job opportunities through NCS.

Source:  The post is based on the article “Mechanism to process unorganized workers’ accident claims in the works, says Ministry” published in The Hindu on 1st May 2022.