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UNORGANISED WORKERS’ SOCIAL SECURITY ACT – K Hemalata*

It is now nearly two years since the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act has been passed by the Parliament. The National Social Security Board for Unorganised Workers was constituted in August 2009. The state governments have to notify the rules under this Act, constitute state level social security boards and set up the necessary Workers’ facilitation centres to disseminate information of the available social security schemes for the unorganised workers, help the unorganised workers to obtain registration from the district administration and facilitate their registration in the social security schemes. As per the Act, every unorganised worker shall be registered and issued an identity card by the district administration, which shall be a smart card carrying a unique identification number. Though state level social security boards have been constituted in many states, in most of the states registration of the unorganised workers has not yet started.

Till now, no new welfare scheme has been formulated under the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, which only makes the following ten of the existing welfare schemes of the government of India applicable for the unorganised workers. Most of these are limited to only BPL workers; some are meant for specific categories of the unorganised workers only like handloom weavers, artisans, fishers etc.

1. Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme – Old people above 65 years of age belonging to BPL category are eligible for a monthly pension under this scheme. The government of India provides Rs 200, while many state governments also contribute varying amounts.

2. National Family Benefit Scheme – This scheme provides for Rs 10000 to the family of an unorganised worker belonging to BPL category in case of death due to natural or accidental causes; however the worker should be the primary breadwinner of the family and aged between 18 and 65 years. It is implemented through the local bodies.

3. Janani Suraksha Yojana – As per this fully centrally sponsored scheme, the states are categorised into Low Performing States (LPS) and High Performing States (HPS) depending on the proportion of institutional deliveries in the state. In case of the 10 LPS (Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand) all women delivering in government health centres/ accredited private institutions are paid Rs 1400 in rural areas and Rs 1000 in urban areas.

In case of HPS, all women delivering in government health centres/ accredited private institutions are paid Rs 700 in rural areas and Rs 600 in urban areas.

All BPL women above 19 years, delivering at home, both in LPS as well as in HPS, are entitled to cash assistance of Rs 500 per delivery up to 2 live births.

4. Janshree Bima Yojana – This scheme is implemented by the LIC. 50% of the annual premium of Rs 200 is paid by the government of India and the other 50% is paid either by the beneficiary, nodal agency or the state government. This is applicable to the unorganised workers in the BPL and marginally APL categories in 43 notified occupations.

Under this scheme, Rs 30000 is paid on natural death; Rs 75,000 on accidental death; Rs 75,000 on total permanent disability and Rs 37,500 on partial permanent disability; Rs 300 per quarter per child is also paid as scholarship for 2 children in IX to XII.

5. Aam Admi Bima Yojana: – This scheme, confined to members of landless unorganised workers in rural households, in the age group of 18 – 59 years, provides the same benefits as the Janshree Bima Yojana and is also implemented by LIC. 50% of the annual premium of Rs 200 is paid from the Fund created for this purpose by the government of India and the rest 50% by the state government.

6. Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) - This scheme provides insurance cover of Rs 30000 to the unorganised sector workers in BPL category and their family members (a unit of five). Transportation costs (actual with maximum limit of Rs 100 per visit) within an overall limit of Rs 10000 are also covered by the scheme. Smart cards are provided for cashless treatment for select diseases which requires hospitalisation. However, there is no provision to cover out patient treatment, which constitutes a major part of the medical expenses of the unorganised workers.

75% of the estimated annual premium, subject to a maximum of Rs 565 per family and the cost of smart cards are by the central government; the state governments contribute 25% of the annual premium, any additional premium and also have to bear the administrative and any other related costs of the scheme. The beneficiaries have to pay Rs 30 per year for registration and renewal.

It is implemented by the state nodal agency through the insurance company involving the panchayats and local bodies.

7. Handloom Weavers’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme – All handloom weavers, not only BPL categories, are eligible for the benefits under the scheme, which covers the handloom weaver, his wife and 2 children.

The health insurance component is implemented through ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. 80% of the annual premium of Rs 781.60 is paid by the government of India and 20%, with a minimum of Rs 50, is paid by the weaver. The scheme covers pre existing and new diseases including out patient treatment; the annual limit per family is Rs 15000; the limit for out patient treatment as well as the limit per illness is Rs 7500; it also provides for maternity benefit of Rs 2500 per child for 2 children; an expenditure up to Rs 4000 towards Ayurvedic/ Unani/ Homeopathic/ Siddha systems of medicine is also covered.

The Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana component of the scheme is implemented through LIC. Government of India pays Rs 150, out of the annual premium of Rs 330, the weaver has to pay Rs 80 and LIC contributes Rs 100. Rs 60000 is paid to the family of the weaver on natural death, Rs 150000 for accidental death, Rs 150000 on total disability, and Rs 75000 on partial disability; scholarship of Rs 300 per child for 2 children in IX to XII class of Rs 300 per quarter for each.

8. Handicraft Artisans’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme – This scheme covers the handicraft artisan and 3 family members including spouse. It covers all handicraft artisans but the rate of premium is different for different categories.

The health insurance component - Rajiv Gandhi Shilpi Swasthya Bima Yojana – is implemented through ICICD Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. The government of India pays Rs 650 for general category and Rs 725 for the artisans in the north east states and those in the SC/ST and BPL categories as annual premium. The artisans in the north eastern states and those belonging to SC/ST and BPL categories have to contribute Rs 75 and those in the general category have to contribute Rs 150 as annual premium. (The contribution of the artisans is to be kept at 20% of the accepted bid for the SC/ST and BPL categories and in NE states and at 50% for the general category). This scheme, as in the case of the handloom weavers’ scheme, covers pre existing diseases with a limit per family of Rs 15000 with a limit of Rs 7500 per person; it also covers out patient treatment of up to Rs 7500, and Ayurvedic/ Unani/ Homeopathic/ Siddha systems of medicine. Maternity benefit of Rs 2500 per child is also provided under the scheme for 2 children.

The Bima Yojana for handicrafts artisans is implemented through the LIC and the benefits are similar to those under the Janshree Bima Yojana. Out of the annual premium of Rs 200, the central government pays Rs 60, the artisan has to pay Rs 40 and LIC contributes Rs 100.

Benefits – Rs 30,000on natural death; Rs 75,000 on accidental death; total disability – 75,000; partial disability – 37,500; scholarship of Rs 300 per quarter for 2 children in IX to XII.

9. Pension for Master crafts persons – This is limited only to the recipients of national awards, merit certificates and state awards in handicrafts and whose annual income is less than Rs 15000 with no financial assistance from any other source. Pension of Rs 1000 per month is paid by central government through the field offices of the Development Commissioners of Handicrafts.

10. National Scheme for Welfare of Fishermen and Training and Extension – the central and state governments share the funding in the ratio of 50: 50. It is implemented by the state governments through the Fish Farmers Development Agencies. Rs 40000 is provided for the construction of houses, Rs 30000 for tube wells for drinking water (Rs 35000 in northeast states), and Rs 175000 for the construction of common work places or community halls. Rs 300 per fisher is paid for 3 months for marine and for 4 months for inland fishers during the fishing ban period; the fishers have to pay Rs 14 as annual premium.

The National Social Security Board met three times after its constitution. In its first meeting it formed a sub committee to recommend extension of the above welfare benefits to different segments of the unorganised sector workers. On the basis of the proposals of the sub committee, the National Social Security Board made the following recommendations to the government in January this year.

1. The basic minimum social security which should include life and disability insurance, health and maternity benefit and old age pension should be applicable to all unorganised workers/ occupational groups irrespective of the fact whether they belong to APL/ BPL category.

2. In the first phase, building and other construction workers, NREGS workers, anganwadi employees and ASHAs should be provided the above benefits; it should be extended to the agricultural mandi committee workers, if the necessary data related to them was available.

3. Cess should be levied on income tax to raise funds for providing social security to the unorganised workers.

The Board recommended that RSBY, Janshree Bima Yojana and the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension schemes should be extended to all the workers in the above categories irrespective of BPL or APL; the age at which pension would be available under IGNOAP should be brought down to 60 years.

But till now, except extending RSBY to the construction workers and the NREGS workers who have worked for 15 days, irrespective of their BPL or APL status, the government has not taken any positive measure to implement the recommendations of the National Social Security Board.

In addition to welfare schemes under the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, some sections of unorganised sector workers like the construction workers, beedi workers etc also have achieved statutory welfare benefits through their struggles. But most of the benefits are not being implemented even today, decades after enacting such legislations like the Beedi and Cigar Workers Act etc. In the case of the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Act, in most of the states the registration process either has not started or is tardy; very little amount is collected as cess; in states where it is collected, it is not spent for providing the welfare benefits to the construction workers.
In the case of RSBY, though the government claims of issuing 1.7 crore smart cards, it is not known how many unorganised workers have actually benefited by the scheme and how many got cash free treatment.

CITU and the trade unions organising these sections of the workers have to ensure that the hard won statutory benefits for the workers are effectively implemented.

(* Member, National Social Security Board)

Source: http://www.citucentre.org/