The labour ministry is set to launch a National Database for Unorganised Workers (NDUW) or e-Sharm portal on August 26, 2021.

• This portal will help in bringing millions of unorganised workers in India on a common platform.
• as per an estimate, 92% of India’s workforce of 500 million is unorganised. They are often deprived of minimum wages and other forms of social security.

• e-Sharm portal will be a single-point reference that will help authorities to reach out to and track workers across informal sector. It will also offer welfare in times of crisis.
• NDUM will comprises of migrant workers, construction workers, gig and platform workers, domestic workers, street vendors, agriculture workers, migrant workers and other such sub-groups of unorganised workers.

This portal will be available in public for open access. Using the platform, workers can self-enrol using their Aadhaar and mobile number. Besides, the common service centres and selected post offices will also help in registration process, where workers can visit and register themselves at no cost.

Work on the portal for unorganised workers was fast-tracked when millions of workers had returned to their hometowns amid nationwide lockdown in April-May 2020 because of covid-19. It had resulted in loss of jobs and livelihood for millions.

As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), 90% of the workers in India are in informal sector. It amounts to 419 million of out of 465 million workers.

By: Brijesh Kumar