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Tuesday 2 February 2016

Modi unveils plans for worker-friendly insurance policies

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the government is in the process of bringing in new legislation to secure the interests of both unorganised and organised workers. The Employees State Insurance Act and the Employees Provident Fund Organisation Act are aimed at providing a stronger welfare net.

Inaugurating a new Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Medical College and Hospital in Coimbatore, he said these new laws would provide more choice, increased coverage for workers and employers, and better and expanded range of services for organized sector workers. He hoped the Tamil Nadu government would act quickly to start the college.

The ESIC scheme entitles all government staff to free medical service at ESIC-run hospitals. There are 10 of them in TN. "This project worth Rs 580 crores will be a boon to ESIC beneficiaries," he said. "We should strive to make this medical college and hospital a model for high quality medical education and treatment to workers of the State," he said.

"Through this, we hope to increase 10,000 MBBS seats and support the colleges with funds for equipment and infrastructure. So far 23 medical colleges have been approved to increase over 1,700 MBBS seats." Four state government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu at Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Madurai have been approved for upgradation by adding 345 more MBBS seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to reach out to the two biggest stakeholders in an industrial town-businessmen and workers. While he assured industrialists that he was working on improving their ease of doing business, he told workers that his government was committed to increasing their pension security and health insurance options.

Giving the crores of unorganized and organized workers some good news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that they are promulgating new Employees State Insurance Act and Employees Provident Fund Organisation Acts. The prime minister said these new acts would provide more choice, increase its coverage among sector.

In the city to inaugurate the new Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) medical college and hospital and hand it over to the state government, the prime minister said that ESIC currently reaches out to two crore workers. "It currently covers seven lakh factories across the country thereby benefitting around 2 crore workers and 8 crore beneficiaries," he said. In Tamil Nadu, 85,000 employers and 28 lakh insured people are members of this scheme, he said. "Coimbatore itself has nearly 27,000 employers".

Source: TOI

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