The labour ministry will launch the National Database for Unorganised Workers (NDUW) on e-Sharm portal on August 26, bringing millions of unorganised workers in the country on a common platform. It is estimated that 92% of India’s workforce of 500 million is unorganised, often deprived of minimum wages and any form of social security.
This will be a single-point reference to help authorities reach out to and track workers in the informal sector, and offer welfare in times of crisis. The labour minister Bhupinder Yadav, on Tuesday, reached out to all trade unions to mobilise support and awareness about the portal among workers.
The database will include construction workers, migrant workers, gig and platform workers, street vendors, domestic workers, agriculture workers, migrant workers and similar other sub-groups of unorganised workers.
The portal will be available in public for open access where workers can self-enrol through his Aadhaar and mobile number. Besides, the common service centres through its nation-wide network of over four lakh centres and selected post offices will act as registration centres, where workers can visit and register themselves free of cost.
The work on the portal for unorganised workers was fast-tracked after millions of workers had returned to their home towns during the nationwide lockdown in April-May last year when the first wave of the pandemic had brought the economy to a halt, resulting in loss of jobs and livelihood for millions.
Trade unions, however, pointed out that the government must focus on implementation to ensure all workers are brought on board. “BMS is that mere launch of the portal will not work. The government will have to ensure proper implementation of the portal and its usage to bring all workers under social security net,” Binoy Kumar Sinha, general .
Reference : Economic Times
