New Delhi, March 17
In an apparent attempt to please the Left parties, the government today unveiled the country’s first unemployment allowance scheme which would cover eight million employees insured with the Employees State Insurance Corporation.
“The insured workers, who lose employment after having contributed to the ESI scheme for five year or more years, shall be entitled to an unemployment allowance in cash, which would be equivalent to 50 per cent of their wages, for a maximum of six month,” said the Union Labour Minister K. Chandra Sekhar Rao in Parliament.
The scheme — Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyal Yojana — will cover those losing employment after April 1 due to closure of factories or establishments, retrenchment or permanent invalidity due to non-employment.
The Labour Minister said in addition to 50 per cent of wages, the families of insured persons would also be eligible to medical care as available in dispensaries run under the Employees State Insurance Scheme.
He said the medical benefit would extend to 30 million family members of the insured workers.
The ESIC proposes to meet expenditure of the scheme out of its existing resources without levying any additional burden, either on employees or employers.
Mr Rao said a sum of Rs 300 crore was being provided in accordance with the rules under the ESI Act for this purpose.
“We often come across situations where industrial units and other establishments are closed down for a variety of reasons, beyond the control of workers,” Mr Rao said.
“During such periods of employment and till they are able to find alternative employment, the economic and social condition of the workers and their families becomes highly vulnerable,” he said.
“The absence of a safety net to deal with such situations leads to frustration and impoverishment of the workers,” the minister said, hoping that all categories of workers and their employers would welcome this “important welfare measure.”
