Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday inaugurated the 71st Foundation Day celebrations of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) held at Bharat Mandapam, through virtual means.

Speaking on the occasion, he exhorted EPFO to become a hassle free and technology-driven organization. He expressed satisfaction that EPFO is giving 8.15 per cent interest this year and has already credited interest in more than 24 crore accounts.

Mr Yadav expressed happiness over the way EPFO has grown over the years and the way it is managing its huge corpus of savings of the members. He praised ‘Nidhi Aapke Nikat,’ an outreach programme conducted by every EPFO office at the district level on the 27th of each month.

The Minister stated that EPFO had extended the Act’s provisions to the working class of Jammu and Kashmir, effective from 31 October, 2019.

Minister of State for Labour & Employment Rameshwar Teli, Labour and Employment Secretary Arti Ahuja, Central Provident Fund Commissioner Neelam Shami Rao and ESIC Director-General Dr Rajendra Kumar were present.

Mr Teli congratulated everyone on the occasion and praised initiatives taken by EPFO to take service delivery close to the members and elderly pensioners in the North Eastern States through the Special State Offices in Imphal, Itanagar, Aizawl, Dimapur and Gangtok.

On this occasion, he inaugurated an exhibition named “Amrit Kaal – Behtar Kal“, displaying the 71 years of EPFO history including chatbot and revamped MIS 3.0. A documentary film on the journey of 71 years of the organization titled Achievements of EPFO was also played on the occasion highlighting the organization’s achievements over the past seven decades.

The Labour and Employment Secretary expressed her happiness on the occasion and congratulated the winners of the Bhavishya Nidhi awards. She appreciated the outreach activities carried out by the organization under Nidhi Aapke Nikat .

Ms Ahuja urged EPFO to further deepen acceptability, accessibility and transparency in coordination with other verticals of Ministry of Labour & Employment so as to benefit from each other’s capabilities and resources under the convergence programme of the Government. She said the manuals unveiled on the day will help in standardization of the procedures and bring uniformity within the Organisation.