New Delhi. The central government is now planning to provide financial assistance in the form of pension to the workers of the unorganized sector. For this, the government is preparing to run a ‘Donate Pension’ campaign. In this, people will be motivated to contribute voluntarily for this pension. This campaign will be part of the ‘Give It Up’ campaign, under which people were inspired to give up the subsidy of cooking gas to the needy.
According to the report, the ‘Donate Pension’ campaign is likely to cost a person only Rs 36,000 per worker. This is a one-time payment under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan (PM-SYM) scheme, which will compensate the monthly contribution made by the worker during his entire life. Under this scheme, the beneficiary will be eligible for a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 from the age of 60 years. According to the report, top government officials have told that the Ministry of Labor is preparing a proposal in this regard for high level consideration.
According to labor ministry data, only 35 workers enrolled under the scheme in October, while 85 had registered in September. The average monthly registration in the year so far has been 2,366. The official said in this regard, ‘If it is approved, then it will revive the scheme and bring lakhs of workers under its ambit.’
PM-SYM is a voluntary pension scheme launched with the aim of providing social security to lakhs of unorganized workers. It is based on workers in the unorganized sector in the age group of 18-40 who earn less than 15,000 per month. Under this, a laborer will have to contribute between Rs 55 to Rs 200, while a similar contribution will be provided by the government as well.
A total of 45.1 lakh informal workers have been enrolled till October since the scheme was launched three years ago. However, this is much less than the estimated 38 crore informal workers in the country. Most of them are left without any kind of social security after the age of 60.
