E-Shram portal : Analysis – UPSC GS3

It is portal launched to create a database of unorganized workers.

It will help in creating a social security structure for this part of the labour force.

The absence of credible data on the migrant workforce, during the economic distress induced by COVID-19, resulted in problems in extending policy support for this section.

There is a lack of credible data for the entire unorganized labour, which accounts for roughly 90% of the entire labour force in the country.

To address this gap, the government has launched the e-Shram portal.

The portal facilitates the identification and registration of the unorganized workers.

The database will also be linked to Unnati (the proposed labour matching platform).

Number of registered unorganised workers: a fifth of the estimated unorganised workers in the country are now registered on the database.

Caste based data on unorganised workers: 40.5% of unorganised workers belong to the OBC category, 27.4% are from the general category, 23.7% are Scheduled Castes, while 8.3% are Scheduled Tribes.

Sector based data on unorganised workers: Maximum registrations have been in the agriculture sector (53.6 per cent), followed by construction (12.2 per cent), and domestic and household workers (8.71 per cent).

The information gathered on workers, especially on migrants, will need to be regularly updated. The states of origin and destination will need to do this and keep track of circular migration.

Workers unwilling to register in e-Shram portal need to be incentivised.

Eligibility criteria for schemes that depend on information that is not collected by the e-Shram portal will also need to be integrated.

Issue of portability of benefits, extended at both the central and state level, need to be addressed.