JOIN USCovid-19 financial aid: Rules designed to keep out lakhs of workers
Lakhs of workers in the unorganised sector will be denied the lockdown cash assistance because the government has designed the rules in such a way that they are ineligible by default.
This past week, the government announced a Rs 1,250-crore financial package for people employed in the unorganised sector, promising each worker cash payments of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000.
The government has now ordered the release of Rs 66.09 crore to 3.3 lakh of the 30 lakh employees in 11 unorganised sectors.
While Karnataka's economic survey states that nearly 2.2 crore people work in the informal sector, the government's eligibility criteria will ensure that only a fraction of them get the cash assistance.
Read more: Covid-19: Inadequate relief for battered sectors
As per the rules, "the benefit of the scheme shall be restricted to BPL families", effectively excluding lakhs of workers. And "the benefit shall be restricted to one person from a family."
Workers need to fill up a form on the Seva Sindhu website, and must provide the following details: Aadhaar-linked bank account, address proof, phone number, BPL card number, passport-sized photo and a certificate of employment attested by officials notified in the order.
The All India Central Council of Trade Unions has criticised the "paltry" cash assistance as well as the "exclusionary" rules.
"The rules are not only exclusionary in nature but will also denigrate the workers," said Maitreyi Krishnan, a lawyer. "They will have to run from pillar to post and spend Rs 200 to Rs 300 to register on Seva Sindhu in the hope of getting Rs 3,000 at best."
A government source said the rules on BPL card and restricting the cash assistance to one member of a family was introduced by the Finance Department. "Despite reservations from several sections, the Finance Department insisted on them," the source said.
Labour Commissioner Akram Pasha said unorganised-sector workers had been divided into two categories: construction workers and others. "As of today (May 30), 29 lakh construction workers have registered on Seva Sindhu. We are giving them the cash assistance without asking any document," he said.
Pasha insisted that Seva Sindhu would not be complicated for domestic workers. Last year, 1.4 lakh barbers and washermen had applied on the portal; 1.2 lakh eligible beneficiaries got the aid, he said.
When asked about technology creating barriers, Pasha pointed out that most of the beneficiaries would register through their associations. As many as 70,000 of the four lakh domestic workers have already registered. And about 4,000 people have been registering daily for the past three days, he said.