The Gujarat Government’s Ministry of labour & Employment will celebrate former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 89th birthday by issuing ‘Shramjivi Card’ (labour Card) to more than one lakh unorganised labourers on the Christmas Day. The card holders will be covered under various Central and State Government schemes as well as protected by insurance cover of Rs1 lakh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also announced to observe December 25th as ‘National Good Governance Day’ to mark Vajpayee’s birthday. On that day, the State Government will be organising 20 ‘Shramjivi Kalyan Melas’ (labour Welfare Fairs) in different cities to kick-start campaign to register unorganised labourers and issue them ‘Shramjivi Card’.
“Gujarat is the first State in the country to launch such card for unorganised labourers. The idea is to give them benefits of various schemes run by the Central as well as the Gujarat Government. Besides, labour & Employment department will have a database of such labourers, which will be utilised to enhance their skills for better jobs for them,” said labour & Employment Minister Vijay Rupani to The Pioneer.
According to Rupani as of now the State Government has database of nearly 15 lakh unorganised labourers who are working in saltpan, MGNREGA, construction industry, agriculture, manufacturing etc. “As per an estimate, there are around one crore unorganised workers in the State. We want maximum number of such labourers to be registered with us, so they can get benefits of various Government schemes as well as insurance cover,” said the Minister.
The State Government has organised Shramjivi Kalyan Melas at Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Godhara, Bharuch, Nadiad, Amreli, Surendranagar etc. The Government is planning to organise such melas time to time to issue Shramjivi Cards to maximum labourers.
Rupani said the Gujarat Government wants labourers to get benefits of schemes like Rashtriya Mazdoor Suraksha Yojana, Mukhya Mantri Amrutam Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana etc. “The State Government is paying Rs5 crore insurance premium for accidental death of labourers. Surprisingly, families of very few labourers are able to get benefit of it. This card will create awareness among them,” he said.
Those labouers residing in Gujarat, irrespective of their native places, would be eligible to avail ‘Shramjivi Card’, he said, adding that they will have to produce residence proof and Aadhar Card as identity. “The database of unorganised workforce will have win-win effect for industry too. The labour and Employment department aims to give training to such labourers in future, so that they could earn better,” he added.