Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shri Rameswar Teli in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today said that in order to safeguard the interest of the migrant workers, the Central Government had enacted the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979. This Act has now been subsumed in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020. The OSH Code, provides for decent working conditions, minimum wages, grievances redressal mechanisms, toll free helpline, protection from abuse and exploitation, and social security to all category of organized and unorganized workers including migrant workers.

The details of the Social Security Schemes being implemented by the Government for unorganised sector workers have been stated in the written reply. The schemes are:

(i) Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PM-SYM) pension scheme, which provides a monthly minimum assured pension of Rs. 3000/- after attaining the age of 60 years. The unorganised workers in the age of 18-40 years are eligible to join the PM-SYM scheme.

(ii) e-SHRAM portal was launched in August, 2021 with an objective to create National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW) of the age group of 16-59 years to facilitate delivery of Social Security Schemes/Welfare Schemes of the Central and State Governments to the unorganised workers.

Shri Teli stated that apart from the above schemes, the Government has taken various initiatives to extend the benefits of Social Security Schemes to the workers of unorganised sector such as Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, portability of provisions of Ration through One Nation One Ration Card scheme, capital loans to street vendors through PM-SVANidhi, additional allocation of food grains under Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojana through Public Distribution System, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Gareeb Kalyan Rojgar Yojana, Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana etc. depending upon their eligibility criteria.

It was further stated that the State Government of Uttar Pradesh has constituted the Workmen and Labour (Employers and Employment) Commission constituted in June, 2020 with an objective to create more employment opportunities in the government and non-government sector, so that the migrant and resident workers of the state can be given employment along with capacity building.

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