New Delhi: The Union government will provide unemployment benefits to workers who lost their jobs due to the Karona epidemic. An allowance of 50 percent of the average employee’s three-month salary will be paid in the form of an allowance. A proposal in this regard has been approved at the Board Meeting of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ES8IC). The meeting was chaired by Labor Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar. Under the proposal, the allowance will be paid to industrial workers who have lost their jobs and are likely to lose between March 24 and December 31 this year. The ESGIC estimates that about 4.1 million workers will receive the allowance.
Amarjit Kaur, a member of ESGIC, said that workers who were insured under ESGIC would be paid 50 per cent of their three-month allowance. “If the criteria set for this benefit had been lowered, it would have benefited about 4.5 million workers,” he said. Workers earning less than Rs 21,000 are being covered under the ES4IC scheme. Each month, a certain portion of the worker’s salary is deducted and deposited in the ES4IC which will help him to get the necessary medical facilities. Such workers are called RIPs. Under the current rules, the IP pays 0.75% of its original salary, while the employer pays 3.25% to the ESGIC.
