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Social Infrastructure and Employment 375

10.66 National Pension Scheme for Traders, Shopkeepers and Self-Employed Persons,
launched on 12.09.2019, is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for providing monthly
minimum assured pension of ` 3000 after attaining the age of 60 years. The traders, shopkeepers
and self-employed persons in the age group of 18-40 years with an annual turnover not exceeding
` 1.5 crore and are not members of EPFO/ESIC/NPS (Govt. funded)/PM-SYM or not an income
tax payer, can join the scheme. Under the scheme, 50 percent monthly contribution is payable by
the beneficiary and equal matching contribution is paid by the Central Government. Enrolment
to the scheme is done through the Common Service Centres, with its network of about 4 lakh
Centres across the country. In addition, eligible persons can also self-enroll through visiting the
portal www.maandhan.in. As on 17.01.2022, over 48 thousand beneficiaries have been enrolled
under the scheme.

Box 4: e-SHRAM Portal

e-SHRAM portal has been launched to create a National Database of Unorganized Workers
(UWs). One of the main objectives of this portal is to facilitate delivery of Social Security
Schemes to the workers.

This database is seeded with Aadhaar and for age group between 16-59 years. It includes
construction workers, migrant workers, gig workers, platform workers, agricultural workers,
MGNREGA workers, fishermen, milkmen, ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, street
vendors, domestic workers, rickshaw pullers and other workers engaged in similar other
occupations in the unorganised sector.

The data aims at delivery of social security benefits as implemented by Central & State
Ministries. It will also ensure portability of the social security and welfare benefits to the
migrant and construction workers at their working places. All eligible registered unorganized
workers are entitled to get benefit of an accidental insurance cover of ` 2.00 Lakhs for a year,
free of cost through under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY). It may also be
used for providing assistance to the eligible workers during any national crisis or pandemic-
like situations.
As on 18 January 2022, over 22.85 crore workers have been registered on the e-SHRAM
portal. The States leading the number of registrations – in decreasing order of share in number
of registrations – are Uttar Pradesh (34.9 percent), West Bengal (10.7 percent), Bihar (10.7
percent), Odisha (5.7 percent), Madhya Pradesh (3.5 percent) and Jharkhand (3.5 percent).
While agriculture accounts for 11.53 crore registrations, domestic workers and construction
workers trail with 2.45 crore and 2.2 crore registrations respectively.

Status of Labour Reforms

10.67 In 2019 and 2020, 29 Central Labour laws were amalgamated, rationalized and simplified
into four labour codes, viz., the Code on Wages, 2019 (August, 2019), the Industrial Relations
Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health & Working
Conditions Code, 2020 (September, 2020). The new laws were in tune with the changing labour
market trends and at the same time accommodating the minimum wage requirement and welfare
needs of the unorganized sector workers, including the self-employed and migrant workers,