Unorganised Workers' Identification Number
Unorganised Workers' Identification Number or UWIN is a proposed unique number to be issued as the identity proof to unorganised workers in India.[1][2][3]
The unorganised workers’ Identification Number is a number provided to the large section of unorganised sector workers by issuing a unique ID and allotting an Aadhaar seeded identification number without issuing any smart cards[4]. In 2014 the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment had decided to design and develop the unorganised workers’ Identification Number (UWIN) – platform under the unorganised workers’ Social Security Act 2008 and had mandated every unorganised sector worker to get themselves registered under the UWIN – platform.The Ministry of Labour and Employment has allocated a sum of ₹402.7 crores for the implementation of the project in two phases[4][5].
The Indian labour force is divided into Formal and an Informal sector which consists of 47.41 crore people of which 82.7% of the labour force lie under the unorganised sector and 17.3% lie under the organized sector as per the NSSO survey 2011-12[5]. Therefore, to provide the social security benefits the Government of India had enacted the unorganised workers’ Social Security Act in 2008, to create a right-based legal framework for providing the social security framework to the least benefited unorganised sector workers. Under this act the provision of UWIN is made to provide these workers with all the social security benefits[6]. At present there is no centralized database that shows the number of unorganised workers in India. UWIN will help to build the national unorganised worker’s database[7].
According to the expectation of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the national database of unorganised workers shall cover 675 districts in 29 states and 7 union territories and will be useful for other ministries to provide benefits to the workers under the social security schemes[6].
Objectives:
- Creation of a single unified sanitized database for unorganised workers to act as a platform to enable social security services to be provided to unorganised workers[6].
- Identification of unorganised workers after they are duly registered, assigning a unique UWIN (unorganised Workers Identification Number) to every registered worker[8].
- The card will include family details through concept of nuclear family and linked family, and associated linkages to facilitate delivery of family-based benefits through the scheme[6].
- This Platform will assist in identifying and enabling skill development requirement, employer-worker mapping and outcome-based policy formulation and decision making.
- Expand the social security schemes’ benefits to approximately 15 Crore Families (40 Crore Unorganised Workers)[6][9].
Stakeholders:
- State governments: The primary usage of the UWIN platform would be in the hands of the state government where they will be responsible for the operational and implementation management of UWIN. Activities of the registration, identification, beneficiary management would be undertaken under the jurisdiction of the state governments[6][10].
- Unorganised workers and their families (UWIN beneficiaries): Under the UWIN platform approximately 15 crore household and 40 crore unorganised sector workers will be benefited who according to MoLE comprise of the bottom level of the pyramid which will provide them with the pension plans, accidental insurance, maternity benefits, education to their children and all the other benefits that come under the social security schemes. As anticipated the workers and their families would be enrolled under the UWIN system where they will also get a chance to file grievances on a central toll-free number along with which the beneficiaries will be able to avail all the welfare benefits while migrating also[6][9].
- Workers facilitation center and field operations: The State government provides the option of choosing the mode/channel to register for the UWIN platform which includes door-to-door surveys and through the workers facilitation centers existing touchpoints such as CSC Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE), Post Offices, NGO’s etc. may be registered as WFCs or the State Government may choose to set up new agencies under the Department of Labour. Different field operators will be allotted for the door-to-door surveys who will help the workers to get registered under the UWIN Platform and also advice the workers on their eligibility regarding the schemes offered by the government. Also, through this UWIN platform the relevant documentation can be built, Aadhaar enrollment can be done, Aadhaar Virtual IDs can be created, and bank accounts can be opened[6][11].
References
- ^ "PM Narendra Modi to soon launch smart card for 40 crore unorganised workers", The Economic Times, 10 February 2016
- ^ "Govt. to introduce UWIN cards", The Hindu, 28 May 2015
- ^ "PM Modi to soon launch smart card for 40 crore unorganised workers", Daily News and Analysis, 11 February 2016
- ^ a b "Identification of Workers in Unorganised Sector". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
- ^ a b Jebaraj, Priscilla (19 June 2018). "Database on unorganised workers gets underway". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Notice Inviting Tender through e-Procurement" (PDF). India: Ministry of Labour and Employment. 12 June 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
- ^ "Database on unorganised workers gets underway – Civilsdaily". www.civilsdaily.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
- ^ "Ministry of Labour Starts Work on Database for Unorganised Sector". News18. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ a b "Centre initiates reforms in unorganised sector". The Sunday Guardian Live. 30 June 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ http://164.100.47.193/lsscommittee/Labour/17_Labour_5.pdf
- ^ "A card can make U-WIN | Migration Narratives: The SHRAM Blog". Retrieved 24 October 2020.
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