(LiveMint)
The Union government plans to link details of about 100 million employees with Aadhaar to create a more reliable record of jobs growth and reduce duplication in payroll data, four government officials said. The linking may also improve delivery of services related to pensions, employees’ provident fund and insurance for workers before the next year’s general election, the officials cited above said, requesting anonymity.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) headquartered in New Delhi, which has an active subscriber base of nearly 60 million, has asked its 120-plus regional offices to take up Aadhaar linking on priority. The Employees State Insurance Corp. (ESIC), which provides healthcare facilities to nearly 40 million industrial workers, recently decided to link Aadhaar with subscriber details. ESIC has decided on a financial incentive scheme to encourage companies to link the Aadhaar numbers of their employees with the subscriber details while enrolling them for health benefits under the corporation.
“There is a lot of debate going on around job growth in India. The monthly payroll data being released since April this year is facing a constant criticism—that it’s not accurate and suffers from duplication. Once you seed all the beneficiaries with Aadhaar you may be able to find a solution to this problem of duplication,” said one of the four officials cited above.
