Govt. Preparing for Comprehensive Social Security Scheme

There are strong indications that  government has clear agenda and planning for the social security scheme. This  on the other side will bring in the workers from the informal sector including Micro, Small and medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to become it's beneficiaries. Now, experts specially from the MSME domain has urged the government to consider multi-dimensional consultation with industry bodies in order to understand the MSME perspective before a final note on the scheme.

V.K Agarwal Past President of Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) quoted while the government is considering for a formal framework to cover the workers of the unorganized sector with the scheme, there is a dire need to engage in consultations.

Elaborating further Agarwal said that the unorganized sector is a complex and is multi-layered; therefore a blanket policy might not be in the best interest.

Citing gaps, Agarwal said that there would be units who would not want to disclose the names of their workforce since doing so would also compel them to other compulsions.

“Once on record, the employer would have to give the worker other provisions such as minimum wage, in such cases, the units would not come up and disclose their workers list”, Agarwal opined.

Commenting over the existing facilities, he said that the delivery of different provisions including the medical services is not in the best shape for the existing insured workers, with new social security scheme, the challenge before the government would be to address these loopholes as well.

One such case where the facilities at the ESIC hospitals have been in the news quite often is that of the ESIC Mohali. Despite several representations made before the department as well as the central government, medical facilities at the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) for the ESIC insured MSME workers in Mohali continues to remain pathetic, Mohali Industries Association informed.

The draft social security code, drafted by the Ministry of Labor & Employment, aims for universal coverage that includes those who are outside the ambit of the EPFO and the ESIC. The present draft includes mandatory pension, insurance against disability and death, and maternity coverage, alongside optional medical and unemployment coverage, according to various news reports.