As per the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008, the Government is mandated to provide Social Security to the workers of unorganised sector including vendors and street side workers by formulating suitable welfare schemes on matters relating to life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits, old age protection etc. The details of the social security schemes are as follows:
(i) The Life and Disability cover is provided through Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY). PMJJBY is available to the people in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank/post office account who give their consent to join/enable auto debit. Risk coverage under this scheme is for Rs. 2.00 lakh in case of death of insured, due to any reason, at an annual premium of Rs. 436/- which is to be auto debited from the subscriber’s bank/post office account. The Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) is also available to the people in the age group of 18 to 70 years with a bank/post office account who give their consent to join/enable auto debit. The risk coverage under the scheme is for Rs 2.00 lakh in case of accidental death or total permanent disability and Rs. 1.00 lakh for partial permanent disability; due to accident at a premium of Rs. 20 per annum which is to be deducted from the account holder’s bank/post office account through ‘auto-debit’.
(ii) The Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY) provides an annual health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per eligible family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization corresponding to 1949 treatment procedures across 27 specialties. It is a completely cashless and paperless scheme. The beneficiary families under AB-PMJAY have been identified from Social Economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 basis 6 deprivation and 11 occupational criteria across rural and urban areas.
(iii) In order to provide old age protection, the Government of India launched Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PM-SYM) pension scheme in 2019. It provides monthly pension of Rs. 3000/- after attaining the age of 60 years. The workers in the age group of 18-40 years whose monthly income is Rs. 15000/- or less and not a member of EPFO/ESIC/NPS (Govt. funded) can join the PM-SYM Scheme. Under this scheme 50% monthly contribution is payable by the beneficiary and equal matching contribution is paid by the Central Government. Under the scheme, the fund towards Government’s contribution is provided to LIC being the fund manager.
(iv) Government has launched PM Street Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme on June 01, 2020 to facilitate collateral free working capital loan to street vendors to restart their businesses, which were adversely impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic. State wise data on beneficiaries for Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi Scheme) is at Annexure-I.
Ministry is conducting regular review meetings with all the stakeholders of the PMSYM scheme to monitor the progress on regular basis. Call center and grievance management systems have also been established in order to address the queries and grievances of beneficiaries and to monitor the operational aspects of the schemes.
The details of funds allocated and utilized under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PM-SYM) scheme during each of the last three years and the current year is as per Annexure-II. There is no specific State wise expenditure as the fund manager is LIC of India. The State wise registration of the PMSYM scheme is at Annexure-III.
The benefit of Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan yojana is only after attaining the age of 60 years in the form of monthly pension of Rs. 3000/-. As such no registered worker under this scheme has attained the age of 60 years.
The Government had launched e-Shram portal in August 2021 with an objective to create National Database of Unorganised Workers and to facilitate delivery of Social Security Schemes/Welfare schemes to the unorganised workers including vendors and streetside sellers.