IE Thinc Migration series: ‘E-Shram needs social security linkages’ | India News,The Indian Express
At the eighth edition of the IE Thinc Migration series, presented by The Indian Express with Omidyar Network India and moderated by Deputy Associate Editor Udit Misra, sectoral experts talked about the need for a rights-based approach over a charity-led one to the design of the portal.
Bhupender Yadav (Union Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment, Environment, Forest and Climate Change):
No Indian should be left behind in the development and growth story, that is their right. An important aspect of the realisation of the vision is targetting the last-mile delivery of the welfare schemes for millions of Indians. E-Shram, a national database of unorganised workers across the country, has already completed registering 28 crore unorganised workers within eight months.
One of the major aims of e-Shram is to provide social security benefits and much-needed help to the vulnerable labour force during calamities. By comparing the permanent and present address fields of all registered or unorganised workers in the e-Shram database, we can identify and track the migrant. We have sent SMSes to registered workers , requesting them to update their present address field along with any other occupation or demographic detail which may have changed.
We are also in the process of integrating e-Shram with the “one nation, one ration card” scheme of the Department of Food and Public Distribution based on the location data of monthly foodgrain collections. To ensure the location of the worker is not a hindrance to accessing social security benefits, we are in the process of integrating the e-Shram database with various state governments and their respective labour departments. Second, the e-Shram platform will share all relevant and shareable data with the state governments in a dynamic way through API-based integration. Based on the migrant worker’s home state and the state he migrated to, the relevant data of each worker shall be shared. Each state government may be able to provide benefits designed for each occupation or income category. Benefits of Central schemes can also be accessed.
We have given a unique identity to each of the unorganised workers in terms of a universal account number that will be acceptable, recognised and shall be unique throughout their lifetime.
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