Manthan topic: PROTECTING THE VULNERABLE

Providing Social welfare to Informal sector workers

A COMPOUND MODEL OF EXISTING, REJUVINATED AND NEW UNITS FOR SOCIAL WELFARE OF THE INFORMAL

SECTOR

COLLEGE: DEHRADUN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITYPLACE: DEHRADUNTEAM NAME: PANCH PATRIOTSTEAM CO-ODINATOR: CHETAN MISHRA (B.TECH CSE-3RD YEAR)MEMBERS: ANKITA SINGH (B.TECH CSE-3RD YEAR), ANKUR TIWARI (B.TECH CIVIL-3RD YEAR), SAUMYA AGARWAL (B.TECH CSE-3RD YEAR) & ASHISH RAJ (B.TECH CSE-3RD YEAR)

Unorganized or informal sector constitutes a pivotal part of the Indian economy. More than 90 per cent of workforce and about 50 per cent of the national product are accounted for by the informal economy. But

even today providing them with basic social security is a major problem.They are still struggling for the basic rights that the “PREAMBLE” to the Constitution of India offers.

“ WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute

India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and

political;LIBERTY, of thought, expression,

belief, faith and worship;EQUALITY of status and of

opportunity;and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and

integrity of the Nation”

The Preamble to the Constitution of India

JUSTICE: The population of the informal sector are an easy prey to the policemen and their welfare has been least concern of political parties since decades.

LIBERTY: This sector has been suppressed since a long time and have been kept deprived of their basic rights of expression.

EQUALITY: The society does not consider the unorganized/labour class as equals. The informal sector has no way to access the same opportunities as the other sectors of society.

FRATERNITY: This sect is completely banished from the so called ‘higher sects’ of the society.

• The sector provides low wages which at timesare even less than the minimum wagesprescribed by the Government which makesthe life of the worker quite difficult.

• As organizations have small capital,they are not able to provide proper

facilities at the work place leading tohealth problems to the workers.

• The workers do not have any social security tofall back in times of need.

• As the units do not have sufficient capital,they usually resort to hiring of children as acheap labour .

• As these units are not covered underany labour laws, employees do not havefacilities like PF and ESI which areavailable to workers of the organizedsector.

• As the workers have low wages they arenot able to afford proper housing due towhich the migrant labour resorts toliving in slums. Incidentally, a number ofsuch informal units are located in slums.Bigger slums like Dharavi housethousands of such units.

• These units do not have proper wastedisposal facilities and hence are a causeof environmental concerns.

• In some cases, particularly in rural andtribal, this sector faces problems due todepletion of resources like forests etc.

Ministry of Laboursand other Informal

Sectors

Office for Health & Care for

Informal Sector

Office for Education and

Advancement for Informal Sector

Office for Financial Support

for Informal Sector

Office for Social Security for

Informal Sector

Office of Statistics and Resource

control

The structure to support our model is a compound one. We suggest a compound ministry as “Ministry of laboursand other Informal Sectors” by enhancing “The Ministry of Labour and Employment” that will deal with the informal sector intensively by adding and/or modifying its existing attached and subordinate offices, autonomous organizations, adjudicating bodies and arbitration bodies. The part of this structure that is a pre-requisite for the social welfare of the informal sector is presented below:

These offices will not be stand-alone units. They will co-ordinate with each other and also with offices of other ministries to provide a higher rate of success to the plan.Example: Apart from deriving its own statistics, the office of statistics and policy control will co-ordinate with National Statistical Commission ,Government of India. Help from NGOs like NIDAN will be taken who have an existing network in states like Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi, etc.

REASONS FOR SELECTING THIS CAUSE

The lack of comprehensive legislation to provide for minimum conditions of work for the informalsector is a severe lacuna, sought to be addressed unsuccessfully over several decades. Moreover, thistopic covers other issues such as youth unemployment, exploitation of women, degrading health &sanitation standards, etc. Hence is a very extensive topic to work on and solving this issue will result inchain solutions of many other major problems.

This office is the pillar around which the other offices will sustain. Major issues of funding, manpower, statistical records and public records(informal sector) will fall under the duties of this office.

FUNDS

• Government funds will be used initially for different purposes like health insurance, loans, managing manpower, keeping records and providing basic infrastructure to the ministry.

• Fund raising events will seldom be organized for different philanthropists to help us with our cause.

• Organizing public fund raising for the common people to help the informal sector in rising up.

MANPOWER

• Retired military officials and activists will be hired to manage high official posts in the offices.

• People with experience in relation to the informal sector will also be hired to interact, test(in cases of loans and insurance) and work for the informal sector.

• Existing workforce of the labor ministry can also be used.

• Volunteers will be welcomed to join the workforce, especially NGOs to join hands with the government. Also self-help groups will be formed within the informal worker’s communities.

RECORDS

• A national database for the unorganized sector will be created as “National Database for Informal Sector(NDIS)” through a national census conducted specially for informal sector.

• Forms will have to be filled on the centers to register in NDIS which will contain detailed information like family details, skills, employment details, health issues,etc along with the common details of the person.

• Every person will be assigned a unique ID and every family will also be provided a unique ID.

• NDIS will be accessible by every office as per their needs.

• Yearly statistical records will be maintained with the help of ‘National Statistical Commission”.

Ensuring employment to the unemployed workers

• Risks involved in migration demands different kind of social security, hence we will use the database provided by office of statistics and policy control & monitor changes in nature of work & other aspects. Now the employer can simply demand the quantity of workers & skills required and we can look into our database and forward the details of workers who are idle & possess the required skill & hence generate employment amongst those who are unemployed.

• This will also help the workers to unite & bargain.

Protecting workers from being exploited & spreading awareness

• We will ensure that the micro enterprises operate on legally organized land with the right of ownership so that municipal regulatory standards are applicable to them & they are not deprived of basic needs. Also this saves them from the illegal money extraction by police & others.

• Work of women in unorganized sector is undocumented & considered disguised wage work & the wages paid are not according to the work. We will form a subordinate office where the officials will keep a strict check on any such case reported by a worker.

• In the various awareness seminars we hold all over India, we will make unorganized workers acquainted with the importance for sanitation & proper use of the facilities being provided to them under office of health & care.

Providing clean water & food

• Recently the IIT Madras research has devised an affordable method(a prototype)for purifying water( at just Rs.10-12 per month for family of five), using silver nano particles. We will boost such creative minds through various tech contests & use the technology hence provide clean water to the unorganized sector workers.

• Effective implementation of National food security bill(NFSB) & Public Distribution System(PDS) so that we can provide food to the unorganized sector without putting any extra burden on the government as this will be that food that gets wasted on daily basis.

Raising Social Security Trust Funds & assigning old workers a suitable task

• We will raise social security trust funds(much like Alaska permanent fund dividend & New Zealand superannuation) & have fund raising events from time to time, encouraging various philanthropists, and use them for the betterment of unorganized workers.

• Requirement for social security significantly rises due to old age or disability of workers who are the only source of income in their family. We will give such people a one month training & recruit them in our community centre under the office of health & care.

Ensuring financial security and transparency & bridging the gap between organized and unorganized sector

• Considering the informal sector 70% do not have a bank account and 87% have no access to credit from a formal source. In order to provide adequate finance at a reasonable rate in a transparent manner we will develop more customized as well as flexible loan products in coordination with the Office of statistics and resource control which will provide us with Funds followed by the case-wise check with the help of NDIS through this we can have a proper filtering process to filter out false loan demands. This scheme will in turn help them come closer to organized sector and feel confident and respected. Once the informal sector prosper they may contribute in paying the taxes and helping the country and themselves in return.

Specially designed insurance scheme

• We will also hire private insurance companies on bidding basis to provide insurance to micro enterprises, home based worker, self employed worker or wage worker for their financial stability. In this model government will provide (75-90) % premium and rest will be given by beneficiaries or state government (if possible). These companies will work on target basis. If target is complete then money will be passed else not. This ensures fast and effective coverage of informal sector in our “Sampoorna anaupcharik chetra suraksha beeme yojana”.

Pension coverage for the Informal sector

• The informal sector contributes a major amount to the GDP. Being such a major contributor government will ensure that next five year’s plan theme is “Upliftment” of informal sector with provision of pension fund (PF).Our concept of existing PF plan will act as pension plan for them. They will be provided with increased rate of interest. There saved money will be provided to them on monthly basis after they are unfit for working.

Multipurpose home based community care centre

• Complete ‘health and care’ for the informal sector will revolve around these care centers.

• “Block” in India is an important geographical unit at local level. Hence, there will be two community centers at either ends of each block to ensure maximum and efficient participation of informal sectors clusters.

• They will ensure:

• Provisions for basic sanitation through grass root level organizations and community services.

• Establish a link between first-aid and prevention of accidents at work site’s level.

• Extend health coverage with the support of general public, dealing with both occupational and general health care at districtand local level.

Health education

• Talks to emphasize reinforcing virtues of health seeking behavior.

• Condom distribution to ensure family planning, prevention of STDs and reduce the financial burden on families.

• Awareness campaigns by efficient use of national and local media.

• Local women have been found well versed in the traditional ways of health and care. Therefore these women will be encouraged and trained to apply inexpensive and traditional methods to ensure prevention and cure of diseases. Thus thereby keeping withculture and ‘Sanskars’ of India.

Home based and accessible medical aid

• ‘Informal health care practitioners’(retired doctors/doctors working with associated NGOs) will be deployed to visit and check the patients at their clusters at regular interval of time(say 15 days).

• Improvement of existing transportation and communication services to ensure effective connectivity and accessibility of the unorganized sector to major hospitals.

• Government aided health insurance will be provided after proper identification of the people in informal sector as “AsanghatitChetra Swasthya Beema Yojana”.

Co-ordinating with Office for Education and Advancement for Informal Sector these issues will be dealt with:

HELP FROM STUDENTS

• Voluntary service organizations (VSOs) will be launched in colleges allowing students to understand and educate the local informal strata.

• They will also help us provide statistics of the local cluster belonging to this sector.

• They will make social tours to these clusters regularly.

• In return they will get incentives like certificates via the government which will signify that they are adhering to their social responsibilities.

CIVIC HELP

•Local clubs that have better understanding of their locality and prevalent informal strata existing there will help the government to make them aware and literate.

• NGOs acting at grass root level that are aligned with the ministry will help these sectors with issues of domestic violence, women abuse, child labour, etc.

GOVERNMENT

• Government school teachers (esp. BTC teachers coz they have least burden) will be visiting the informal sector clusters to teach them. These teachers will be initially trained in community centers established at block levels and will be given suitable incentives.

• Education camps will be organized on monthly basis in community centers. Here education about loans, banking and enhancement of skills will be provided to them so that they can have a better future.

• Helpline numbers will be distributed in the informal clusters for 24*7 help.

• Funding involved in spreading the education will be directly linked with the office

CHALLENGES

The informal sector is a geographically widespread sector, hence difficult to reach.

It is generally difficult to differentiate between genuine requests for financial help and non-genuine ones.

Keeping informal sector workers aware, their children educated and monitoring them becomes difficult due to their frequency of migration from one place to another.

Success of any scheme depends on the trust between the sector in need of support and the organization

providing it. Due to so many inefficient schemes that haven't yet been able to give the result they promised,

it has become difficult to make the informal sector trust any new organization or policies.

MITIGATION

An integrated army of government workers, NGOs, activists, students and volunteers will help us come

over this difficulty .

The concept of NDIS introduced will help us to keep check on the real conditions of the requester and hence

determine the genuineness. Also a team of ‘case inspectors’ will check each case before granting

financial help.

We will make it mandatory for the migrating clusters to inform their mini-centers near them whenever they

migrate. Further, these centers will inform the center at the migrating place and exchange information on the

migrating cluster.

We will hold multiple seminars & Interactive sessions with the informal workers where representatives from

their own clusters will ensure that they trust in our schemes & hence mutual efforts by organization &

informal sector contribute to the success of the scheme.

Existing Framework

Proposed Solution

Cri

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•Our impact of solution will be seen directly in the rise of collection of taxes, employment of youth, and the overall increase in GDP of the nation.

•Our organized approach will eradicate the bug of corruption and help us to optimize the resources.

Scal

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•Our program covers a vast and important sector of the society i.e. the informal sector.

•A work will be done entirely with close association by local communities and beneficiaries.

•Each group of informal sector will be focused upon in our program.

Sust

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•Our model contributes overall growth of informal sector and bridges gap between manufacturing and services i.e. organized and unorganized sector.

•Our programs are long lasting and effective because our approach is realistic and idealistic.

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•A coordinated and hierarchical approach to our ministry will provide us with control over the subdivided offices .

•Each scheme will be brought under the office of CAG and the proper audited report will be used for further action.

•Human Resource and Skill Requirements in the UnorganisedSector by National Skill Development corporation•Growth Pole Programme For Unorganised Sector Enterprise Development-NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR ENTERPRISES IN THE UNORGANISED SECTOR April,2009•Report of the Committee on Unorganised Sector Statistics by National Statistical Commission,Government of India-February 2012•The unorganised sector in India-Tomy Jacob