E-Shram Portal

Why in news?

• Over 27 lakh unorganized workers registered on E-Shram portal since its launch.

About the portal

• The portal is developed by Ministry of Labour & Employment.
• It aims for creating a National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW), which will be seeded with Aadhaar.
• The portal will have details of name, occupation, address, educational qualification, skill types and family details etc. for optimum realization of their employability and extend the benefits of the social security schemes to them.
• It is the first-ever national database of unorganised workers including migrant workers, construction workers, gig and platform workers, etc.

Who can register in eShram (NDUW) Portal?

• An unorganised worker whose age should be between 16-59 years and who is not a member of EPFO/ESIC or NPS (Govt. funded)
  • Any worker who is a home based-worker, self-employed worker or a wage worker in the unorganised sector including a worker in the organised sector who is not a member of ESIC or EPFO or not a Govt. employee is called an Unorganised Worker.

Benefits from registering in the portal:

• After registering, an unorganized worker will get an Accidental Insurance cover of 2 Lacs under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana.
• In future, all the social security benefits of unorganized workers will be delivered through this portal.
• In emergency and national pandemic like situations, this database may be utilized to provide necessary assistance to the eligible unorganized workers.

Objectives of eShram Portal:

• Creation of a centralized database of all unorganized workers (UWs) including Construction Workers, Migrant Workers, Gig and Platform workers, Street Vendors, Domestic Workers, Agriculture Workers, etc., to be seeded with Aadhaar.
• To improve the implementation efficiency of the social security services for the unorganized workers
• Integration of Social Security Schemes meant for UWs being administered by Ministry of Labour and Employment and subsequently those run by other ministries as well.
• Sharing of information in respect of registered unorganised workers with various stakeholders such as Ministries/ Departments/ Boards/ Agencies/ Organisations of the Central & State Governments through APIs for delivery of various social security and welfare schemes being administered by them.
• Portability of the social security and welfare benefits to the migrant and construction workers.
• Providing a comprehensive database to Central and State Governments for tackling any National Crises like COVID-19 in future.

What is UAN?

• Universal Account Number is a 12 digits number uniquely assigned to each unorganized worker after registration on eSHRAM portal.
• UAN number will be a permanent number i.e. once assigned, it will remain unchanged for the worker’s lifetime.

PRACTICE QUESTION

With reference to ‘eSHRAM portal’, consider the following statements:

1. A worker in the organised sector who is a member of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, is eligible to register on the eSHRAM portal.

2. The portal is developed by Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer