The central government is weighing the option of an umbrella legislation for provident fund scheme in the unorganised sector as recommended by the second National Commission for Labour, said P D Shenoy, labour secretary, government of India.
Shenoy however said that discussions are in the preliminary stage. Speaking at an awareness programme for state assisted scheme of provident fund for unorganised workers (SASPFUW), Shenoy emphasised the importance of provident fund schemes for the unorganised sector.
"Only 7 per cent of total workforce is organised," he pointed out. The central government currently handles a corpus of around Rs 139,000 crore (Rs 1,390 billion) as provident fund collection from the organised sector.
State labour minister, Mohammed Amin said that if the central and state government work together towards development of such schemes, then much more could be achieved.
The state government is in the process of rolling out SASPFUW. The scheme is applicable throughout the state of West Bengal for both wage employed and self-employed workers in the unorganised sector with effect from January 1, 2001.
Different industries and self-employed occupations in the unorganised sector will be covered under the scheme in phases. Each beneficiary worker will contribute Rs 20 per month into his account under the scheme.
The state government will contribute an equal amount into their account. The state government will also pay interest on the total amount. The total contribution along with interest will be paid to the beneficiary on attaining 55 years of age. Amin said, so far only 4,000 workers from Kolkata have registered for the scheme.