Do something about unorganised sector workers too

The pandemic has jeopardised the lives of crores of Indian workers, who have faced numerous challenges like lost jobs, reduced wages, and increased uncertainties. Many have died leaving their family members and dependents in great distress and precariousness.

On Sunday, the Union labour ministry announced a few measures designed to provide relief to the family members of those workers who might have lost their lives to the killer virus. Certain restrictions in ESIC and EPFO have been relaxed to address the fear and anxiety of workers about the well-being of their family members due to a rise in deaths in the pandemic. The enhanced social security would be available to the workers without any additional cost to them or their employers.

The labour ministry’s move is certainly welcome. However, it leads to a few other questions.

The ESI Act, 1948 is social security legislation that is applicable to all factories and notified establishments employing 10 or more persons. But it is not applicable to the unorganized sector.

The same goes for the EPFO, which now covers about 6 crore workers. Though the government has plans to extend it to more than 40 crore workers of the unorganised sector, the ambitious design is yet to be implemented.

These workers, most of whom are daily rated workers, are the most vulnerable of the lot. Last year, IMF estimated that India would account for 40 million of the 90 million who would turn extremely poor due to the prolonged restrictions in the economy. These are the workers that the government needs to protect with some sort of social security, or other cover quickly. It might be in cash or kind. The employment opportunities of most of the unorganised sector workers have simply vanished due to the combined impact of the first and second run of the virus.