All You Need To Know About Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Scheme

To take government’s resolve of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance” further, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate scheme at Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital today.

The scheme seeks to improve employability, skill development and other conveniences for labour. A unified labour portal and an information system that would allow transparent labour inspection scheme has also been launched under the scheme by the government.

Unveiling the string of labour reforms, the Prime Minister asserted that ease of doing business is “essential” to ensure ‘Make-in-India’ campaign is successful.

This major labour reform move aims at ending the infamous ‘inspector raj’ in the country. As Indian Express reported, “while so far the units for inspection were selected locally without any objective criteria, the new scheme envisages that serious matters will be covered under the mandatory inspection list.

A computerised list of inspections will be generated randomly on predetermined objective criteria and complaints-based inspection will also be determined centrally based on data and evidence. There will also be provision of Emergency List for inspection of serious cases.”

The Inspectors would be required to file their reports within 72 hours.

The scheme also seeks to provide portability of employees provident fund accounts through a Universal Account Number (UAN). The EPF accounts will be linked with bank accounts which will be further linked with UAN, Aadhaar and other KYC details to facilitate financial inclusion.

Reportedly, a minimum pension has been introduced for the first time so that pension is not less than Rs 1,000 per month. The wage ceiling has been raised from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000 per month to ensure vulnerable groups are covered under the EPF scheme.

The Economic Times reported, as part of the new system, a unique Labour Identification Number (LIN) will be allotted to factories or industrial units to facilitate online registration. Instead of 16 separate returns, units need to file just one consolidated, self-certified and simplified online return.

Under the programme, the labour ministry is setting up a ‘Shram Suvidha’, or labour facilitation, portal. The portal will be operated by four central organisations: Chief Labour Commissioner, Directorate General of Mines Safety, Employees’ Provident Fund and Employees’ State Insurance Corporation.

The scheme also promises demand-based vocational training, an apprentice scheme and revamping the health insurance scheme Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) for workers in the unorganised sector.

(with agency inputs)