Review on Progress of Welfare Measures for Unorganised Labour
Review on Progress of Welfare Measures for Unorganised Labour
Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Smt. Sumita Dawra, chaired a review meeting on the progress of welfare measures taken by the Directorate General Labour Welfare (DGLW), an organisation under the Ministry, in New Delhi today. Senior officials from DGLW and the Labour Ministry were present on the occasion.
The meeting focused on reviewing the welfare measures taken for the benefit of unorganised labour including migrant workers, Building & Other Construction Workers (BoCW) and Beedi/Cine/Non-Coal Mine workers under existing Central and State schemes.
Highlighting that the focus should be to connect unorganised workers with welfare schemes, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment directed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)/Manual may be developed in the form of guidelines containing the different categories of unorganised workers and matching them with bucket of central & state welfare schemes i.e., Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM) etc. under which they can be given coverage of social security for life insurance, health benefits, pension, housing, education and other benefits.
Emphasizing the benefits of the recently launched BoCW Management Information System (MIS) portal, Ms. Dawra said that the objective is to ensure welfare of BoC workers and the portal acts a means to achieve the same. Follow up with States/UTs on the progress of registrations done on the portal and updation of workers’ details, including fund utilization of BoCW Cess for access of labour to various central and state welfare schemes was emphasized.
Secretary, (MoLE) highlighted priority areas as follows:-
ii. Strengthening a coordinated approach to work with the State BoCW Welfare Boards to extend the benefits of various central government schemes to BoC workers by utilizing BoCW cess fund.
Secretary, MoLE directed regular interactions of the Welfare Commissioners posted in various States with State Governments, with the ultimate aim to expand the outreach of various welfare schemes, including central sector schemes, to the workers in informal sector.
A two-day Capacity Building Program for the Labour Welfare Commissioners based in States is being organised from 21st to 22nd October, 2024 at V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida, Uttar Pradesh by the Ministry for which the above issues will be discussed in detail and suitable strategies developed.
- Bringing Beedi/Cine/Non-Coal Mine workers, aged 70 years and above, under the health benefits of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).