Unorganised labour in India and e-Shram portal

An update on the eShram portal by the MLE

 Unorganised labour in India and e-Shram portal

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• The story: Central government launched the "e-Shram portal" to create a national Aadhaar-seeded database of unorganised workers. The portal will create a unified database for unorganised workers to help them access various benefits of central and state government welfare schemes. The extremely despondent situation of millions of migrant workers during the pandemic and lockdown made it an imperative.
• Organised versus unorganised: A very small part of the total workforce of India is in the orgnised sector. It is the unorganised or informal sector that dominates, and forms more than 80% of the workforce - self-employed, migrant and MSME workers. The government often finds it tough to take benefit programmes to these workers. With this portal, the goal is to register 38 crore unorganised workers.

1. It will cover any worker in the unorganized sector and aged between 16-59, e.g. migrant workers, gig workers, platform workers, agricultural workers, MGNREGA workers, Fishermen, Milkmen, ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, Street Vendors, Domestic workers, Rickshaw pullers and others
2. Workers can register on the portal with the help of Aadhaar and bank account details.
3. They will be issued an e-Shram card containing a 12-digit unique number.
4. Registered workers will be eligible for Rs 2 Lakh on death or permanent disability and Rs 1 lakh on partial disability.
5. The registration on the portal will be coordinated by the Labour Ministry, state governments, trade unions and Common Service Centres.

• History and present: Under the "Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008", a similar attempt was made but it resulted in the registration of just 12 crore workers. The digitisation under the new portal will now help in targeting income transfers better and in other social security schemes too. Some examples are pension, provident fund, deposit linked insurance, maternity and accident benefits (as in the Social Security Code, 2020). The Code does not spell out how this will be financed.
• Importance: Today, unorganised workers are registered under different welfare boards, or not at all. In the absence of any central register, migrant workers often do not receive the benefits. Of the 50 million workforce of construction workers, at least 15 million are not registered. Of the 35 million or more registered, about 40% are not active. The unprotected workforce became extremely vulnerable during the pandemic.  An electronic registration system that can be accessed anywhere is the need of the hour, for both employees and employers.
• To ensure greater reach: Some steps are recommended -

1. Decentralised registration process with participation of municipalities, panchayats and civil society groups
2. Flexibility to register in any centre of convenience, rather than a specified office
3. Making it easy for workers registered under other welfare boards to enlist on this portal
4. Permitting other national IDs such as voters’ card for those without Aadhaar

• Shram Suvidha portal: The Unified Shram Suvidha Portal is developed to facilitate reporting of Inspections, and submission of Returns. It is envisaged as a single point of contact between employer, employee and enforcement agencies bringing in transparency in their day-to-day interactions. For integration of data among various enforcement agencies, each inspectable unit under any Labour Law has been assigned one Labour Identification Number (LIN).
• EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the key difference between organised and unorganised sectors in India. (2) What are the four labour codes made by the government of India? What benefits will flow to workers due to these? (3) Unorganised sector workers need the most support from both society and government. Do you agree? Explain.

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