Modi to unveil 4 labour schemes on Oct 16

Labour ministry to organise 'Shrameva Jayate' event to launch the schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch four labour reform schemes, aimed at lessening hassles for employees and creating conducive environment for businesses, in the national capital on October 16.

According to labour ministry sources, a proposed event titled 'Shrameva Jayate' is likely to witness the launch of Universal Account Number (UAN) facility for Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscribers, a new inspection scheme, a unified web portal to check labour law-compliance and merging of three welfare schemes.

"The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has confirmed that the PM will be available to launch these much-anticipated schemes," said a labour ministry official. Narendra Singh Tomar-led union labour ministry will be organising the event.

"All these initiatives are a step towards boosting India's rank on the ease-of-doing-business criterion," said another ministry official. India ranked 134 among 189 countries in terms of ease of doing business in 2014, according to the World Bank report. Besides, steps would provide benefits to employees in terms of their provident funds.

Through UAN, employees will no longer have to apply for transfer of provident fund (PF) accounts claim, while switching job anywhere in the country, reducing time in funds transfer. The EPFO is in the process of allotting a unique portable number termed UAN to the employees across the organised sector. Once a UAN is allotted to employees, they need not go through their employer to provide details to EPFO. All that employees would require to do would be to update their new employee identity numbers provided by the new employers in their UANs when switching jobs and their accounts will be automatically shifted.

Through the new UAN portal, an employee will be able to download or print his passbook, UAN card, list previous member ID and file and view transfer claims.

According to latest official estimates, EPFO has rolled out UAN for 41.7 million employees, which will be operational from October 15.

The new inspection scheme is aimed at taking away the discretionary power of the inspector through transparency and accountability. It will initially cover EPFO, the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), besides those in the ambit of the chief labour commissioner and the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS).

The scheme will have three types of inspections - the areas where inspection is mandatory, those where it is optional and the instances where it is based on compliance. Also, the inspector will have to file his or her report within three days of going to the field. Mandatory inspection is meant for extreme circumstances, while optional will be system generated. Under the compliance-based inspection, cases will be referred to a Central Analysis and Intelligence Unit for approval only after which inspection could be done.

The unified web portal, designed to make compliance process easier for industry, will see a common window for online registration of units, reporting of inspections, submission of annual returns and redressal of grievances. There will be a simpler format for filing annual returns, which will become a considerably reduced document. A unique labour identification number or LIN will be allotted to each employer after registration.

In another move, the ministry plans to converge three schemes for the unorganised sector -- Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana, Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana and Indira Gandhi National Old Pension Scheme. Initially, the government will link all these schemes to a single 'smart card' and will have a "single point of contact for service delivery". On the basis of this, other social security schemes will be merged later.