How Does Indian Organizations Works for Employees?

Posted by Nedi kios on January 18th, 2020

1. EPF and applicabilty

The Constitution of India under ‘Directive Principles of State Policy’ provides that the State shall within the limits of its economic capacity make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old-age, sickness & disablement and undeserved want. In conformity of the spirit of this Direction, the need for a vigorous social security cover in the changing environment resulted in the legislation for provident fund as an endeavour to provide a life of dignity for the employees and their dependents once they ceased to earn their normal livelihood. The Employees’ Provident Fund came into existence with the enactment of the Employees’ Provident Funds (EPF) Ordinance in 1951. EPF Ordinance was later replaced by the EPF Funds Act, 1952. The EPF Bill was introduced in the parliament in 1952 to provide for provident funds for employees in factories and other establishments. Law that governs employees’ provident fund is now referred as the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (also called The Act). The Act has its applicability all over India except Jammu and Kashmir.

2. Structure of EPFO

The Act and all its Schemes are administered by a tri-partite Board called Central Board of Trustees (EPF). It has representatives of Government (both Central and State), Employers and Employees. The Board is chaired by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. The Central Board of Trustees (EPF) operates 3 schemes:

a. The Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme 1952 (EPF)

b. The Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS)

c. The Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976 (EDLI)

The EPF Organisation (EPFO), is an Organization that is established to assist the Central Board of Trustees (EPF) and is under EPF Grievance Status the administrative control of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

3. Functions Of EPFO

EPFO assists the Central Board of Trustees (EPF) in the administration of Provident Fund Scheme, a Pension Scheme and an Insurance Scheme for the registered establishments in India and includes employees of such establishments and international workers who are covered. EPFO’s functioning includes enforcement of the Act across the country (except Jammu and Kashmir), maintenance of individual accounts, settlement of claims, investment of funds, ensuring prompt pension payment and updating records etc.
EPF Organization is also the nodal agency for implementing Bilateral Social Security Agreements with other countries. Further, it is one of the largest social security organizations in India, both in terms of the beneficiary base and the quantum of financial transactions undertaken. The EPFO’s apex decision making body is the Central Board of Trustees.
  EPFO has been taking several measures to simplify the operation of EPF account both for employer and employees by adopting IT-enabled tools and techniques. EPFO has undertaken the number of digital initiatives in the recent past.
  Overall, the EPFO performs the dual role of being the administration and overseeing the implementation of the Act and also as a service provider for the covered beneficiaries which includes both employers and employees i.e., members.
 

4. Services offered By EPFO

Universal Account Number

EPFO introduced UAN which acts as an umbrella for the multiple Member Ids allotted to an individual by different employers. The UAN programme was launched in October 2014 as part of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakaram. It is perhaps the most exceptional step taken by EPFO in the recent past. UAN is a unique 12 digit number assigned to an employee by EPFO. UAN enables linking of multiple EPF Accounts (Member Id) allotted to a single member. UAN offers bouquet of services like dynamically updated UAN card, updated PF passbook including all transfer-in details, facility to link previous members’ ID with present ID, monthly SMS regarding credit of contribution in PF account and facility for auto-triggering transfer request on cange of employment.
Employees are required to activate their UAN at UAN portal  in order to avail wide range of online services offered by EPFO. Once UAN is activated, employees can login using UAN and password and access various online services as well as update KYC details etc.