Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reportedly planning to introduce the biggest welfare scheme of India aimed to serve 50 Million workers of the country. Under this, the workers of unorganized sector will be given benefits of life insurance, old age pension, and maternity benefits. It’s believed that the draft for the same will be introduced in the winter session of the Parliament. Welfare Scheme for Workers
As per the Bloomberg report, the central government has prepared a bill in which 15 labor laws will be simplified and combined into 1. Union Labor Minister Santosh Gangwar said that the bill will be presented in the Parliament in the winter session, ahead of the 2019 Elections. Welfare Scheme for Workers
Biggest mass benefit program Welfare Scheme for Workers
Back in February 2018, the central government had announced a scheme named Ayushman Bharat, also known as Modicare. This aims to provide health insurance cover of INR 5 Lakhs to 10 Million poor families. The upcoming policy is going to be much bigger than Modicare. In fact, it’s being touted as the biggest mass benefit program in the country till date. Welfare Scheme for Workers
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Initially, the scheme will be launched in 6 districts as a pilot project before the Lok Sabha elections. However, it’s not decided which districts will be a part of the project.
Cost of the Program
In order to calculate the estimate the cost of this scheme, the government has formed a committee. This panel will recommend that the benefits should be paid at a rate that is above the poverty line.
Professor Santosh Mehrotra, Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, who is a part of this committee, said that the scheme will incur cost of around INR 500 Billion or 0.38% of the GDP on an annual basis. Welfare Scheme for Million Workers
He also pointed out that in next 22 years, India will be an ageing society like China and hence the government has to start working on social security today if it wants to ensure that the elderly population is taken care of. Welfare Scheme for Million Workers
A Challenge for the Government
Even before the passing of the bill, it is being anticipated that it’s going to be a challenging task for the government owing to a limited budget and a cast population. Higher spending on social security would improve the quality of life for workers but at the same time it would limit the infrastructure development.
