The Finance Ministry is working on a comprehensive social security insurance scheme for lakhs of workers in the unorganised sector, wherein majority share of the premium would be shared by the government.
“The scheme seeks to provide life, health and retirement pension schemes under one cover. Through this we are trying to extend insurance penetration to rural areas and millions of unorganised sector labourers,” a senior government official told PTI.
The ministry is also considering bringing on board various government flagship healthcare and insurance schemes — National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and Aam Admi Bima Yojana under — the cover, the official said.
He said Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and the four PSU general insurance companies would manage the corpus, wherein the premium would be shared among central and state governments and the beneficiary.
“We are yet to decide on the ratio of premium sharing.
Anyway, the government would bear maximum share of the premium under the cover,” he said, adding that private sector players could also come forward and join the scheme.
The scheme would be structured in a way to have central record-keeping agency (CRA) to maintain individual details.
The plan is part of the ministry’s financial inclusion drive to reach out to the poor workers.