Social security for informal, self-employed and overseas workers as well

KATHMANDU: The Social Security Fund has announced that informal, self-employed and foreign workers will also be included in the scope of social security. The fund has said that the social security program will be implemented from February 25 for those who have gone for foreign employment and from May 1 for informal and self-employed workers.

On November 25, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security passed the ‘Contribution-based Social Security Scheme Operating Procedures for Foreign Employed Workers and Self-Employed Persons Abroad-079’ and ‘Social Security Operating Procedures for Informal Sector Workers and Self-Employed Persons-079′, the Fund It has been announced that this program will be implemented.

No worker should be excluded from social security anymore. From housewives working at home to those working in establishments, arrangements have been made to allow them to feel themselves as empowered workers,” Labor Secretary Eknarayan Aryal, who is also the chairman of the fund, said, “The rights of workers have been clarified legally. According to the tripartite consensus of the government, employers and trade unions, this procedure has been advanced.

According to the Nepal Labor Force Report-2017/18, there are 44 lakh 11 thousand workers in the informal sector. The workers working in this sector are most at risk. There are 26 lakh 75 thousand people in the formal sector. 1.8 million are self-employed. 075 The social security program implemented from November 11 addressed only the formal sector.

Even in the formal sector, a very small number of 373 thousand 111 people have been affiliated. According to the Ministry of Labor, 2.2 million people who went to work abroad are also outside social security. The government has made it compulsory for the workers working in the formal sector, while it has been considered voluntary for the workers in formal, self-employed and foreign employment.

Kapilmani Gyawali, executive officer of the fund, said that the programs brought by the fund will be available based on the specified contribution. Workers working abroad or those who are self-employed abroad will also be eligible to participate in the fund.

Those who go for foreign employment can contribute from a minimum of 2 thousand to a maximum of 28 thousand 155 rupees. Those who contribute in this way will get annual accident treatment expenses up to 1 lakh rupees, disability pension up to 5 thousand 631 rupees, lifetime pension up to 3 thousand 754 rupees for dependent families and educational scholarship up to 21 years of age for children up to 3 thousand 754 rupees.

After the foreign employment period ends, a lump sum or pension facility will be given. Life pension will be available after 60 years. Gyawali said that workers who have gone abroad should apply online and register themselves. The permission of the employer company is not required to participate in the fund. You can apply by yourself with passport and work permit. The specified amount can be directly deposited into the account,” Gyawali said, “For countries that do not require a work permit, a work permit is not required. In the case of workers going to work abroad from February 25, the fund will provide the account number before giving the work permit. Workers working in the informal sector in Nepal must contribute 20.37 percent of the minimum basic salary to the fund.

The self-employed can contribute up to 31 percent of the minimum wage set by the government and up to three times. Those who contribute in this way will be included in the Medicaid Health and Maternity Protection Scheme, Accident and Disability Protection Scheme, Dependent Family Protection Scheme.

Annual health care facilities up to 1 lakh rupees, maternity protection up to 15,000 rupees, 98 days worth of childcare expenses and accident treatment expenses up to 7 lakhs will be available. Depending on the percentage of disability, disability pension up to 5660 rupees, dependent family pension up to 3754 rupees, monthly children’s educational allowance up to 3754 rupees, funeral expenses of 25 thousand rupees and interest on the accumulated amount will be received. “There is a facility to withdraw a certain percentage of the accumulated amount and the remaining amount can go to pension,” he said.

Labor, Employment and Social Security Minister Sher Bahadur Kunwar said that the fund should be aware of the effective implementation of the procedure. We can implement it. It has ensured the right of all citizens to social security according to the constitution, he said.

Trade unions have said that the implementation of social security is very lax. We have been fighting for social security for many years. The government has been very weak and weak in its implementation,’ said Navraj Dahal, general secretary of Joint Trade Union Coordinating Center (JTUC).