Women workers outnumber men on e-Shram portal, total count reaches over 4 crore

New Delhi, Oct 17 (Bureau) More than 4 crore unorganized workers have registered at e-Shram portal, the national database on unorganized workers, with female workers outnumbering male counterparts. “As per live data, 4.09 crore workers have registered on the portal. Of these around 50.02 per cent beneficiaries are female and 49.98 per cent are male. It is encouraging that equivalent proportion of men and women have been part of this drive,” an official statement said. Registration at e-Shram will facilitate unorganized workers to get the benefits of government schemes easily.

The largest number of workers registered on the portal is from agriculture and construction. Workers from several other sectors such as apparels, automobile, electronics and hardware, capital goods, education, healthcare, retail, tourism and hospitality and food industry have also enrolled. States such as Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh have seen highest number of registrations. As per the data released by Ministry of Labour and Employment, around 65.68 per cent of these registered workers are in the age group of 16-40 years and 34.32 per cent are in the age group of 40 years and above. Nearly 43 per cent registered workers are from Other Backward Castes (OBC) while 27 per cent are from general castes. Further, 23 per cent and 7 per cent workers are from Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) categories.

“This registration would facilitate delivery and accessibility to crucial welfare programmes and various entitlements meant for the workers in the unorganized sector and employment,” said Labour Ministry. Once registered on e-Shram portal, the workers have a Universal Account Number which is accepted across the country and hence do not require registration at different places for obtaining social security benefits. “If a worker is registered at the e-Shram portal and meets with an accident, he/she will be eligible for Rs 2.0 Lakh on death or permanent disability and Rs 1.0 lakh on partial disability,” Labour Ministry said.