Odisha widens ambit of Social Security Scheme

Odisha Government expanded the coverage of Social Security Scheme to 50 more categories of unorganised workers which include delivery boys, boatmen and photographers, the scheme aims to provide financial assistance in case of accidental or natural death.

What’s in News?

The Odisha Government on 2^nd August expanded the Social Security Scheme to cover 50 more categories of workers under the purview of Odisha Unorganised Worker’s Social Security Board (OUWSSB).

Categories of Unorganised workers under OUWSSB

At present, only 10 categories of workers are covered under OUWSSB. In the first phase street vendors, small traders, domestic workers, rickshaw pullers, auto drivers, cobblers, agricultural workers, forest workers, newspaper hawkers and sanitation workers will be registered under the board, followed by tailors, saloon workers, labourers, railway potters, restaurant workers, vegetable vendors, band- party members, plantation workers, photographer and videographer, assistants in grocery shops, delivery boy and girls and meat sellers.

Benefits provided to the workers

If any registered worker losses his or her life at the workplace then their family members would be entitled with the financial assistance from the government.

Odisha Government has also increased the assistance amount provided to the unorganised workers. The state government increased the amount for the families of deceased worker from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.4 lakh. Similarly, for natural deaths, the assistance amount has been enhanced from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.2 lakh.

About Odisha Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Board (OUWSSB)

Odisha Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Board (OUWSSB) has been constituted on 22^nd December 2011 under the Labor and ESI Department, Odisha with an objective to monitor the activities of registration of unorganised workers as beneficiaries and extension of social security benefits to them. It has been reconstituted on 14^th August 2019.

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