AP Government To Celebrate May Day At Rajahmundry

Andhra Pradesh will celebrate the state's first International Workers Day at Rajahmundry on May 1, 2015.

On this special day, the labour department will announce schemes benefiting unorganized labourers, drivers and employers. Smart cards will be issued for unorganized labourers under an accident insurance scheme. There will be an MoU with the insurer for a Rs 3 lakh accident insurance.

These cards will also help the labourers reap the benefits of the labour welfare programs that will be launched by the union and the state governments.

The registration process for the issue of the smart cards will begin soon. Drivers and labourers can enroll their names online or at the nearest e-seva centres. The smart cards will be issued with the Aadhar number, bank account and other details.

The government aims to incorporate one crore labourers under this scheme.

The labourers will also be enrolled in the Pradhan Mantri Bima Surakasha Yojana under which unorganized workers will benefit from an additional Rs 2 lakh accident/death insurance by opening a Jan Dhan Yojana savings bank account.

The government also notified the AP Transport Drivers Social Security Scheme which will offer these additional benefits (apart from the Rs 5 lakhs accident death insurance) for over 5 lakh drivers:

Rs 75,000 for total permanent disability
Rs 37,500 for partial permanent disability
Rs 30,000 for natural death
Scholarship of Rs 1,200 p. a. per head for 2 children of the beneficiary studying in 9th class, 10th class, intermediate or ITI

The state government also introduced a slew of labour reforms by bringing in a new act by the name AP Integrated Registration Act, 2015. Under the act, any employer can submit an application online by paying a nominal amount of Rs 25 for the generation of a certificate. This certificate is an integrated registration under six labour laws.

The labour department is also working to facilitate the filing of integrated returns online with the relevant particulars.

The entire registration processes has been digitized to eliminate middlemen and bring in transparency.

On this day, the labour department will also launch its web portal labour, ap.gov.in. Transport drivers, unorganised workers and employers can register on the website with their ID proofs.

In order to create awareness among the labourers, an informative booklet titled Karmikulaku Andaga will be released. (INN)