E-Shram Portal: an effort for the welfare of marginalized workers

Introduction

E-Shram portal is a data base for unorganized sector workers developed by Ministry of labour and employment (MOLE) which is linked with Aadhar. Unorganized workers receive an e-Shram card/id on digital form after registration at the portal. They also can update their profiles through portal or mobile app. This app will help in creating awareness about various welfare programmes and entitlements for the workers in the unorganized sector.

Although registration was recommended by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) and made mandatory by Unorganized Workers’ Social Welfare Act 12 years ago, thanks to Narendra Modi Govt’s recent initiatives that the e-Shram portal has been actively to target in the unorganized sector workers. In May 2021 the Supreme Court also issued a ruling for introducing a temporary, comprehensive and universal registration system for informal workers and rotating migrants. In fact, both informal worker and rotating migrants are alternatively known as unorganized sector workers.

As per Periodic Labour Force Survey PLFS (2018-19), nearly 88 per cent of workers are engaged in the unorganized sector while it contributes nearly 52 per cent to our GDP. On the contrary, the organized sector contributes nearly 48 per cent to the GDP while it employs hardly 12 per cent of the entire workforce. This indicates the glaring in equality in the distribution of income. So far it has been impossible to provide any timely relief, forget about providing social security because it is difficult to exactly identify the large number of invisible unorganized sector workers. The NSSO survey which are conducted at different points of time, do not adequately capture their extent and magnitude. E-Sharm Portal is a right step in this direction. 

The Benefits for the Registered Workers

The Universal Account Number on e-Shram card will be acceptable all over the country for obtaining social security benefits such as insurance coverage, maternity benefits, pensions, educational benefits, provident fund benefits, housing schemes etc. For the social security benefits the workers need to add the details of their identification like, name, occupation, address, education qualifications, skill, etc. on the portal. Also, through e-Shram card, the migrant workers can take admission for their children in the nearby school, which is one of the major problems, they are facing now. The e-Shram id will be used as their identity card. Further, the beneficiaries will get benefit Rs 2 lakh on death or permanent disability and Rs. 1 lakh for partial disability under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY).

The Progress

The e-Shram portal has been made available to states/UTs to register all eligible workers in the unorganized sector including construction workers, migrant workers, gig and platform workers, street vendors, domestic workers, agriculture workers, milkmen, fishermen, truck drivers etc. The eligible workers can register through, over four lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs), which act as access points for delivery of digital services. As on 30^th December 2021, the portal has registered around 162 million workers, 67% which are from five states: Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand. These are the major states as far as the number of registrations on E-Shram portal is concerned (see Fig-1).

Figure 1: Share of Major States (in %) in total registration on E-Shram Portall

As shown in Figure-1, these five states account for around seventy per cent of total registration. From which Uttar Pradesh has the highest enrollment, followed by west Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.

The portal also collects data of unorganized workers with regards to their occupations. As we know, occupational structure in Indian economy depends upon three different sectors viz., agriculture (primary) industry (secondary) and services (tertiary). In E- shram portal shows that 62 percent of people have enrolled in the primary sector which is higher than the other sectors. Agriculture and construction sectors engage the maximum number of workers in the unorganized sector. The relative distribution of various occupations among the registered workers is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Percentage Distribution of registered workers by major occupations

Apart from agriculture and construction, many more have registered in this portal from different occupations like, domestic and household workers, apparel sector workers, automobile and transport sector workers, electronics and hardware workers, capital goods workers, education, healthcare, retail, tourism and hospitality, food industry. Besides occupation, the portal also collects data on the gender of the workers. Given the number of registration so far, the distribution by gender is presented in figure 3.

Figure 3: Registration of workers by gender (in %)

As shown in figure 3, gender-wise analysis of e-Shram portal registrations shows that more females have registered than the males. For the females it is around 52 per cent while the rest 48 per cent comprise of male workers. Certainly, higher registration of female workers is surprising given their lower participation in labour force. Further the e-Shram portal data suggested that around 94 per cent of workers registered earn an income of Rs. 10,000 or below, per month. Also, the collected data reveals that a large number of workers are young i.e. around 61 per cent of registered workers belong to 18-40 age group. Moreover, the portal also records the migration status. However, the information getting collected is highly inadequate to draw any concrete inference about the status of migrant workers.

Conclusion

The portal is part of digitization process that has assumed a crucial part in prospering the Indian economy. The “make in India” drive has given a gigantic push to digitalization of India, with the help of digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), remote sensing, big data, block chain and IoT. Thus, the e-Shram portal: the exceptional drive is a much-needed development as it will bring unorganised laborer’s data under one umbrella which will help the Govt. to address their concerns.

National Logistics Policy must include components on Green Hydrogen Economy

   National Logistics Policy must include components on Green         Hydrogen Economy

By Gopal Krishna Agarwal,

Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken it upon himself to be a global leader in climate change challenges and is committed to the cause of renewable energy. This shows that there is will power at the top leadership level for achieving these goals. Because of this commitment, after COP21, India has taken some bold steps in meeting emission norms. Consequently, after the Paris Climate Change Summit, India’s emissions have reduced by 28% from their levels in 2005, according to a report. We are almost on the verge of achieving the target of reducing emissions by 30% by 2030.

A major noteworthy measure taken by India is to set up the International Solar Alliance, with its head office in India, along with France. Another initiative taken by India to meet its green energy commitments is to obtain 80-85% of its electricity demand through renewable sources by 2050. India is also committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, incorporating all the 17 goals into the government policies. Recently, India has achieved the target of 40% power generation capacity based on non-fossil sources.

Green hydrogen economy: The baton of a zero-carbon future

Coal’s share in India’s energy mix constitutes over 44% while oil contributes to around 25%. The share of bio-energy and CNG is 21% & 5.8% respectively, while that of nuclear & solar energy is critically low. Being a fossil fuel, coal is a recipe for a climate hazard. On the other hand, oil prices in the country are skyrocketing, and imported oil is inflating India’s import bill. As India treads farther on the road to industrialization, its per capita energy consumption will grow from 30% currently, which is lower than the world average consumption, to almost double in 2040. This is attributed to the fact that India has now displaced US to become the second most attractive destination for setting up manufacturing industries globally.

Though there are certain concerns about large hydro projects, India has a huge potential in it. Similarly, small hydro projects can be important initiatives, although they are nearly non-existent at present. But at the same time, India now has the world’s fifth-largest solar power and fourth-largest wind energy capacities. This energy can be used to produce green hydrogen, a zero carbon emission fuel, and it will be a big game changer for the whole energy sector.

Hydrogen is a big source of energy, and though there are several challenges at present and India is not a big player in this field, the direction in which private investments and the government are moving can reap big rewards for the country. It will help in energy security, decarburization, and meeting the target for reduced carbon emissions. It is estimated that a transition towards hydrogen energy, which can become the most important component on the renewable energy side, will entail an investment of more than US$ 500 billion in the near future.

Many private companies like Reliance, Adani Power, Tata Power and Mittal Power and even some of the government companies in the energy sector, like NTPC, have set up big targets and there is an expected investment commitment of US$ 316 billion by 2030. If government policies are supportive, and challenges pertaining to the implementation of hydrogen energy are met, India can become a big player in this field.

Creating a conducive ecosystem for a green hydrogen economy

At present, cost is a big challenge for hydrogen technology. There is also a big competition on the solar energy side from China. A major challenge that can be found from the private sector is high interest costs. Though the government is continuously reducing interest costs, more sources of energy and funding are needed for this to happen. If new and improved technology is brought along with innovation and research, production challenges can be met. 

Recognizing the challenges and finding solutions is also something the government is working on. It is now coming up with new industrial and logistics policies to address concerns like transportation and availability of raw materials, among others. There is also a focus on building manufacturing bases in India. Under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, the government has also committed Rs 90,000 crore on upgradation of the power sector, tackling issues of grid reforms, improvement in transmission and improvement in discoms.

Private players as well as the government agree that hydrogen and silicon are novel fields that can generate a lot of wealth for the country. Around Rs 1,500 crore has been committed by the government for setting up this National Hydrogen Mission. Various policies are being implemented and roadmaps are being set up. Ultimately when the objective is clear and there is commitment of the highest level for clean and green energy, India will surely be able to achieve its targets.

The Government is coming out with new National Logistics Policy; it must address issues pertaining to integrated logistics hubs, hydrogen storage, transportation, warehousing, and ports. Similarly, internalizing the environmental cost on the corporate sector’s balance sheet will help in proper project evaluation for the government and also bring better presentation. So, the recording of these environmental initiatives in the balance sheet and internalizing cost is another important issue, where more research and development can take place. Finance accounting professionals, such as from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) can take this initiative. More sources of low cost funding are must to propel a robust hydrogen economy in the country and the government is taking steps towards that.