Welfare Policy in India

The Central Government of India’s social programmes and welfare expenditures are a substantial portion of the official budget, and state and local governments play roles in developing and implementing social security policies. Additional welfare measure systems are also uniquely operated by various state governments. The government uses the unique identity number (Aadhar) that every Indian possesses to distribute welfare measures in India.

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation

A provident funding is a kind of pension scheme. It is mandatory for every public, private and self-employee under The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. Under this statutory act, every working person has a Universal Account Number (UAN), which is a 12-digit number allotted to employees who are contributing to EPF. It will be generated for each of the PF member by EPFO. The UAN will act as an umbrella for the multiple Member Ids allotted to an individual by different establishments and also remains same through the lifetime of an employee. It does not change with the change in jobs. The idea is to link multiple Member Identification Numbers (Member Id) allotted to a single member under single Universal Account Number. This will help the member to view details of all the Member Identification Numbers (Member Id) linked to it. In this account, an employee contributes 10% of his monthly salary here and his employer contributes a matching amount.

The major benefit of UAN or Universal Account Number will include easy tagging of multiple Employee’s Provident Fund Member Id under a single number, thus reducing the confusion. The UAN will help in easy transfer and withdrawals of claims. Along with this service like Online Pass-Book, SMS Services on each deposit of contribution and Online KYC Update can be provided on the basis of UAN number. One can transfer balance from one EPF to his/her another EPF account with the help of UAN.

There are new UAN portal start to check your EPF balance and nowadays all the details like how to check UAN status, download UAN EPF passbook, check EPF balance, provident fund claim and many more facility provided by new UAN portal.

EPFO has now started to provide the refund of Administrative charges if all the KYC details are updated for all employees. This incentive programme is announced for the Year 2016-2017.

The member who is unable to withdraw PF for any reason can withdraw without consent of employer. They can submit FORM 19 for EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and FORM 10C for EPS (Employees’ Pension Scheme) with any of the following official’s attestation to EPFO office in which their EPF account is maintained and Universal Account Number or UAN provided by EPFO is mainly used to track PF balance and PF claim status. Then, you have to activate this by visiting nearest EPFO office. You will not be able to track your PF status and balance without activation.

National Health Insurances

There are a number of public and private health insurance companies operating in India which caters to the Indian middle class. For vulnerable Indians, the government has Ayushman Bharat Yogna, which is a health insurance programme that has coverage that includes 3 days of pre-hospitalisation and 15 days of post-hospitalisation expenses. Moreover, around 1,400 procedures with all related costs like OT expenses are taken care of. All in all, PMJAY and the e-card provide a coverage of Rs. 5 lakh ($ 6860) per family, per year, thus helping the economically disadvantaged obtain easy access to healthcare services.

Factories Act, 1948:

The principal Act to provide for various labour welfare measures in India is the Factories Act, 1948. The Act applies to all establishments employing 10 or more workers where power is used and 20 or more workers where power is not used, and where a manufacturing process is being carried on.

Employee Welfare Officer:

Section 49 of the factories act provides that in every factory wherein 500 or more workers are ordinarily employed the employer shall appoint at least one welfare officer.

The welfare officer should possess:

(i) A university degree;

(ii) Degree or diploma in social service or social work or social welfare from a recognized institution; and

(iii) Adequate knowledge of the language spoken by the majority of the workers in the area where the factory is situated.

1. Supervision
2. Counselling workers
3. Advising management
4. Establishing liaison with workers
5. Working with management and workers to improve productivity.
6. Working with outside public to secure proper enforcement of various acts.

Health of Employees:

• Cleanliness:

Every factory shall be kept clean by daily sweeping or washing the floors and work rooms and by using disinfectant where necessary.

• Disposal of Wastes and Effluents:

Effective arrangements shall be made for the disposal of wastes and for making them innocuous.

• Ventilation and Temperature:

Effective arrangements shall be made for ventilation and temperature so as to provide comfort to the workers and prevent injury to their health.

• Dust and Fume:

Effective measures shall be taken to prevent the inhalation and accumulation of dust and fumes or other impurities at the work place.

• Artificial Humidification:

The State Government shall make rules prescribing standard of humidification and methods to be adopted for this purpose.

• Overcrowding:

There shall be in every work room of a factory in existence on the date of commencement of this act at least 9.9 cubic meters and of a factory built after the commencement of this act at least 4.2 cubic meters of space for every employee.

• Lighting:

The State Government may prescribe standards of sufficient and suitable lighting.

• Drinking Water:

There shall be effective arrangement for wholesome drinking water for workers at convenient points.

• Latrines and Urinals:

There shall be sufficient number of latrines and urinals, clean, well-ventilated, conveniently situated and built according to prescribed standards separately for male and female workers.

• Spittoons:

There shall be sufficient number of spittoons placed at convenient places in the factory.