The Hindu Business Line : Social Security Bill introduced in RS

New Delhi, Sept. 10 The Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Bill 2007 that provides legislative backing to all the social security schemes was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

The Bill introduced by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment, Mr Oscar Fernandes, includes the Aam Admi Bima Yojana, National Old Age Pension Scheme and the Health Insurance Scheme. These schemes were announced by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on August 15.

Mr Fernandes, according to an official statement, said the Health Insurance Scheme, formulated for the below poverty line (BPL) workers will cover six crore families progressively in the next five years. In all, 30 crore workers will be covered under the scheme.

A provision has been made for issuing smart cards, carrying a unique identification number to each of these families for providing cashless medical services.

Scheme profile

Each family would be entitled to healthcare worth Rs 30,000 per annum. Under the scheme, during the first year, an expenditure of about Rs 700 crore is estimated and this will go up to more than Rs 3,500 crore at the end of five years.

The Minister said that the National Old Age Scheme will be extended to all BPL persons above the age of 65. A pension of Rs 200 per month will be provided and States will be requested to add another Rs 200 to the scheme.

More than Rs 4,000 crore will be spent under the scheme, which will be administered by the Ministry of Rural Development.

Under the Aam Admi Bima Yojana, all the rural households in the country will be provided life and disability insurance cover.

This cover will be for Rs 75,000 on death due to accident and permanent disability due to an accident.

In case of partial disability caused by an accident, the cover will be worth Rs 37,500. The premium, under this scheme, will be Rs 200 per annum for every member, of which 50 per cent will be contributed by the Union Government and the rest by the State governments.

The Finance Minister has already committed Rs 1,000 crore for this scheme in the budget.

Advisory boards

The Bill also envisages setting up of advisory boards at the national and State levels having representations from all the stakeholders, on whose recommendations programmes and schemes will be worked out.

Mr Fernandes said that the State Boards and the State governments will have to play a key role in implementing various schemes as well as registration of workers and issue of smart cards.