India Wins ISSA Good Practice Award for Asia and Pacific 2024

India has been awarded the prestigious ISSA Good Practice Award for Asia and Pacific 2024, presented by Dr. Mohammed Azman, President of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), at the Regional Social Security Forum held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) also received five Certificates of Merit for its innovative practices in social security delivery. These awards highlight EPFO’s initiatives in enhancing service delivery, communication, and inclusivity, benefiting its large and diverse workforce.

ISSA Good Practice Award for Asia and Pacific

• India’s EPFO was honored with the prestigious ISSA Good Practice Award for its continuous efforts to reform and enhance social security systems in the country.
• The award was presented at the Regional Social Security Forum held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a significant platform for discussing social security matters.

Certificates of Merit

EPFO received five Certificates of Merit for outstanding initiatives in various areas of service delivery,

• Communication Channels
• E-proceedings
• Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 (Massive District Outreach Programme)
• Multilingual Call Centres
• Prayaas Initiative

Award Categories and Description

Communication Channels

EPFO adopted ISSA Guidelines on communication and implemented them through the Communication Framework Document (CFD).

This multi-channel approach includes:

• Webinars
• SMS and emails
• Social media outreach
• IEC videos
• Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 camps for direct engagement.
• These efforts aim to ensure timely and effective communication with stakeholders.

E-proceedings

• EPFO revolutionized the judicial inquiry process by transitioning to online e-proceedings, reducing time delays, enhancing transparency, and ensuring fairness in determining dues from defaulting employers.
• This online system also optimizes compliance processes while increasing the speed of dispute resolution.

Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0

• With 139 Regional Offices and 117 District Offices, EPFO covers large parts of India but still faces gaps in over 500 districts.

• The Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 programme addresses this by bringing EPFO services closer to members’ homes by conducting grievance resolution camps on the 27th of every month across the country.
• This initiative ensures the last-mile delivery of services, improving member access to essential services such as claim submission and grievance redressal.

Multilingual Call Centres

• To address the linguistic diversity across India, EPFO set up multilingual call centres to provide information and resolve grievances in 12 major regional languages.
• This initiative aligns with ISSA’s Service Quality Guidelines and helps increase member satisfaction by resolving doubts and issues in the language most comfortable to the member.

Prayaas Initiative

• The Prayaas Initiative ensures Pension Payment Orders (PPO) are provided to retiring members of the Employees’ Pension Scheme (1995) on the day of their retirement.
• This has significantly improved the pension disbursement process and is an important initiative to prioritize pensioners.

Special Mention for Digital Life Certificate (Jeevan Pramaan Patra)

• EPFO received a Special Mention for the Digital Life Certificate initiative, known as Jeevan Pramaan Patra, which facilitates biometric-based Aadhaar authentication for pensioners.
• This initiative has streamlined the life certification process for pensioners, ensuring greater ease and accessibility for senior citizens.

EPFO’s Commitment to Service Delivery and Reform

• The awards and recognitions reflect EPFO’s commitment to embracing technology and good practices that enhance service delivery, especially in the context of India’s rapidly changing economic and social landscape.
• EPFO’s initiatives align with the Government’s policy of ease of doing business and ease of living, which aim to make social security services more accessible, efficient, and transparent for the Indian workforce.