The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has credited 8.15 per cent interest in over 24 crore accounts and every EPFO office is conducting an outreach programme at the district level on the 27th of every month.
A review of the Ministry of Labour and Employment for 2023 shows that the organisation launched the Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 programme on 27 January, 2023, across all the 692 districts in India.
To guide members, FAQs on the implementation of higher pension have been released. The EPFO undertook key reforms to provide ease to its beneficiaries.
These reforms included the transparent computer-generated inspection system, the introduction of an e-Passbook, on-boarding with UMANG, reduction in administrative charges, and simplified monthly electronic challan-cum-return.
The yearly review showed the Ministry-run Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) significantly expanded its coverage to 611 districts, including Lakshadweep, with a network of 161 hospitals and 1,574 dispensaries. The number of Insured Persons (IPs) has increased to over 3.72 crore, providing social security to more than 12 crore beneficiaries.
In a major initiative, the ESIC introduced from May 2023 chemotherapy services in 38 of its hospitals with 100 beds or more across the country for cancer treatment.
The ESIC is actively improving medical infrastructure, with the number of medical colleges increased to eight, MBBS seats increased to 950, and MD/MS seats increased to 275.
The other initiatives include “Kahin bhi, kabhi bhi”; Referral Policy with a real-time dashboard for doctor/specialty-wise referrals, home delivery of medicines and telemedicine for IPs or beneficiaries unable to visit the hospital.
For preventive health, ESIC has set up a public health unit and undertaken mapping of occupational diseases. It has launched a 5G Ambulance service to provide advanced information on patients en route to the hospital. The insured persons can now avail treatment in panel hospitals under the PMJAY scheme.
From January 2023 to November 2023, as many as 69.26 lakh unorganised workers have been registered on the eShram portal, the National Data Base for unorganised workers.
Overall, as on 17th December, 2023, more than 29.23 crore unorganised workers have been registered on the eShram portal. The e-Shram portal has also been integrated with NCS, SID portal, PM-SYM, myScheme & DISHA portal, according to the yearly review.
The National Career Service (NCS) platform has more than 3.64 crore registered jobseekers; 19.15 lakh employers and more than 1.92 crore vacancies since its launch in 2015. The portal has registered an unprecedented 13.49 lakh active vacancies during November, 2023.