'2 mn first-time employees poised to get job-scheme benefit'

THE STAGE IS set for the rollout of the employment-linked incentive scheme (ELI) under which the government will offer incentives to employers for payroll addition and up to one month's wage to first-timers.

- SUMITA DAWRA, SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT

As part of the preparatory work, universal account numbers (UANs) are being activated for first-time employees. So far, 2 million UANs have been activated.

The direct transfer of wages to bank accounts will be possible once the scheme is launched, Sumita Dawra, secretary, the ministry of labour and employment, tells Priyansh Verma in an interview. "We aim to notify the scheme by the end of the current financial year, or early FY26. We will ensure a robust risk mitigation mechanism," she says.

When will gig and platform workers start getting health insurance coverage, as announced in the Budget?

The Budget announcement is very meaningful for platform workers. They are vulnerable because they are outside of the traditional employee-employer relationship. The platform workers are currently around 10 million, and by 2030 are expected to rise to 23 million. To provide them with insurance under the PM Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY), the first step is to get them registered under the e-Shram portal. A pilot initiative has already been undertaken in that regard by the labour ministry, and an aggregator module has been piloted enabling the digital platforms to onboard their workers on e-Shram.