Blitz Bureau
New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) Over 30.68 crore unorganised workers have registered for social welfare benefits on the government’s e-Shram portal — with more than half of them (53.68 per cent) being women (as of March 3), Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shobha Karandlaje, informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.
In keeping with the vision of the budget announcement on developing e-Shram as a one-stop-solution for unorganised workers to have access to various social security schemes, Ministry of Labour and Employment launched the e-Shram–“One-Stop-Solution” on October 21, 2024.
The “e-Shram–“One-Stop-Solution” entails integration of different social security schemes at a single portal. This enables unorganised workers registered on e-Shram to access social security schemes and see benefits availed by them so far, through e-Shram.
So far, 13 schemes of different Central Ministries/ Departments have already been integrated with the e-Shram including Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM-SVANidhi), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G), Ayushman Bharat.
To enhance the accessibility of the e-Shram portal, the Ministry of Labour and Employment launched multilingual functionality on the e-Shram portal on January 7, using the Bhashini platform. This enhancement now allows workers to interact with e-Shram portal in 22 Indian languages, improving accessibility and promoting inclusivity for all, the minister said in a written reply.
To make e-Shram and associated services, readily available to unorganised workers, the Ministry launched the e-Shram mobile application on February 24. This application provides real-time access to welfare schemes integrated with e-Shram, significantly improving accessibility and convenience.
The steps taken by the Ministry to increase awareness among unorganised workers include holding periodic review meeting with states, regular meeting with Common Services Centre (CSC).
The e-Shram portal is also integrated with National Career Service (NCS) and Skill India Digital Portal to provide employment and skilling opportunities. Besides, to facilitate enrolment under pension scheme, e-Shram is integrated with Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandan (PMSYM), according to the minister.
To offer one-stop search and discovery of the government schemes, e-Shram is integrated with myScheme portal and SMS campaign is also being carried out to create awareness, the minister added.
The Ministry launched e-Shram portal (eshram.gov.in) on August 26, 2021 for creation of a comprehensive National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW) seeded with Aadhaar. e-Shram portal is meant to register and support the unorganised workers by providing them a Universal Account Number (UAN) on a self-declaration basis.
–IANS