Labour and employment minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said the government is planning to converge the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) with Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to provide efficient treatment to ESIC beneficiaries.
“Under this policy, ESIC beneficiaries will have access to quality medical facilities in more than 30,000 hospitals empanelled with AB-PMJAY,” Mandaviya said while chairing the third regional meeting with western dozen states in Rajkot.
This will eliminate distinctions with respect to access to services offered by government, public sector and private hospitals, allowing the beneficiaries to efficiently receive treatment in any empanelled hospital,” he added.
If implemented effectively this scheme is also expected to be a big boon for the massive security guard workforce in the country. The private security industry in India is one of the largest employers in the country, with over 9 million people employed. The industry is made up of more than 25,000 private security agencies (PSAs), ranging from small local firms to large multinational companies
The private security industry is the second largest employment generator, the largest employment provider being the agriculture sector in the country. The private security sector also has the unequalled distinction of being the largest corporate tax contributor to the treasury. Since the workforce is largely unorganised, the ESIC scheme’s effective implementation will ensure for them quality medical assistance.
Top government officials of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, and Lakshadweep attended the meeting chaired by Mandaviya. This meeting is the third in a series of six regional meetings being organised by the ministry of labour and employment nation-wide with the states and union territories to discuss key labour and employment issues.
According to the statement issued by the ministry after the meeting, Mandaviya said that the government is working towards upgrading the National Career Service portal with advanced technologies including AI and integrating it with e-Shram, for making it the preferred destination for employers and job-seekers in terms of job-matching in both organised and unorganised sectors.
In the meeting, minister Mandaviya said states, UTs and the Centre should work together to set up a mechanism for timely compilation of more accurate employment related data.
“This data should feed into a centralised dashboard equipped with advanced analytics, simulation, forecasting and modelling, which would be accessible to the centre and states/UTs, thus, facilitating them in framing more effective policies for generation of employment,” he said.
Mandaviya urged states to strengthen the mechanism of collection of feedback from beneficiaries of government schemes as states and UTs are implementation agencies for majority of welfare, social protection, and employment schemes and thus, have their ears to the ground. While addressing the states, Mandaviya reiterated that the government is committed to providing comprehensive and easily accessible social protection coverage to all workers in both organised and unorganised sectors.
The ministry is working with states and UTs towards expanding services and benefits of ESIC to all districts in the nation. Greater coordination amongst the Centre, States and UTs to leverage Information Technology (IT) including Artificial Intelligence (AI) for facilitating beneficiaries in access to quality services, is the need of the hour,” he added.
