E-SHRAM PORTAL- PLATFORM FOR THE UNORGANISED WORKERS

E-SHRAM PORTAL- PLATFORM FOR THE UNORGANISED WORKERS

The Supreme Court, in light of the need of the hour, had directed the Government to develop and curate a portal for registration for collating and consolidating data under the National Database for Unorganised Workers (NDUW). The portal has now been developed by the National Informatics Centre and aims to register and collect data of over 38 crore workers in the unorganised sector. 

This new platform known as the e-Shram portal was launched on the 26th of August 2021 and aims to incentivise and cater a platform to unorganised workers from all sectors, including but not limited to construction workers, the migrant workforce, street vendors, and domestic workers among others can register themselves on the portal.

Five must-know things to know about the e-Shram portal-:

1. The main purpose and objective behind curating such a portal is the integration of social security schemes of the government while ensuring targeted and last-mile delivery.
2. The worker can register himself by using his/her Aadhaar card number and bank account details, ancillary to filling other necessary details like date of birth, mobile number etc.
3. As part and parcel of this platform, the workers will be issued an e-Shram card which shall contain a 12-digit unique number.
4. A national toll-free number — 14434 — shall also be launched to assist and address the queries of workers who are seeking registration on the portal.
5. The registration of workers on the portal will be coordinated by the Labour Ministry, state governments, trade unions and CSCs.

The Supreme Court had issued stringent directions that the registration of all such unorganised workers shall be completed at the earliest and no which shall not exceed 31st of December 2021. In this regard, the Central and State Governments have to work parallel and on collateral, a platform to ensure prompt and proper registration of all workers in the unorganised sector. The government has also planned awareness campaigns across the country to enable the nationwide registration of workers. With just and rational execution, this noble initiative shall go a long way in facilitating the benefits of social security schemes to the unorganised workers of the nation.

Siddharth Macker

Advocate Supreme Court of India

Expert in Labour and Employment Laws