Empowering India’s workforce Digital pathways to job growth and worker welfare

V Anantha Nageswaran (Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India)
In the modern era of digital society, e-governance, powered by chatbots, portals, online grievance redre- ssal and management information systems, has brought the Government closer to the citizens. By leveraging technology, the Government is redefining and re- engineering the delivery of services in many areas, including employment growth and workers’ social security. Processes are beco- ming more efficient, transparent and, above all, citizen-centric. Scheme portals now act as “all-in-one” platforms, facilitating the seamless knowledge flow and benefit mapping across programmes while reducing fraud, manual processes, and administrative burdens.
Aadhaar seeding and interlinkage with various schemes prevent beneficiary duplication and ensure the benefits reach the intended recipients on time. The interlinked portals further empower workers to access and trackbenefits, explore employment opportunities, and pursue skill training, while also enabling employers to tap into a national talent pool,enabling hiring based on skills and experience. Additionally, these portals contribute to building comprehensive national databases of unorganised workers, job seekers, employers, and employment opportunities, allowing policymakers to make informed, data-backed decisions.
In times of crisis, such as during a pandemic, these databases would prove extremely valuable, allowing for the rapid identi- fication of those in need and ensuring timely support. This digital transformation is streamlining governance, empowering citizens, and enhancing the reach and impact of the welfare efforts. A few examples of these initiatives are discussed here.
The National Career Service (NCS) portalis a notable example of this transformation. Ministry of Labour and Employment’s NCS portal, launched in 2015, has played a crucial role in providing employment-related services to job seekers. With over 5.5 crore job seekers registered on the portal, it serves as a “one-stop platform” that connects job seekers with employment opportunities across the country, providing career counselling, job matching, information on internships, apprenticeships, skill courses, etc.  Earlier, a freshly graduated student from a State university could not have imagined accessing job opportunities nationwide through amobile phone.
Today, with the NCS, one can easily search for jobs Nationwide by location, through integration with PM Gati Shakti, receive career and job counselling, and even acquire the necessary skills through the Skill India Digital (SID) portal—all on a phone or by attending local job fairs.
Approximately 57,000 job fairs have been organised under the NCS project to date. Further, the NCS portal has been integrated with the SIDH, Udyam, e-Shram, EPFO, ESIC, PM Gati Shakti Digi Locker, and others, facilitating greater stakeholder access and efficiency. The portal is also connected with about 30 state and private job portals, broadening access to job opportunities.
Similarly, the Shram Suvidha and Samadhan portals enhance compliance and ease of doing business for industry and trade, ensuring faster resolution of disputes and settlement of claims and workers’ grievances. The ESIC Dhanwantari Module enables hospitals and dispensaries to have better availability of patient records, previous case history, etc., thus ensuring better patient care. These initiatives are a powerful testament to the government’s resolve not to leave anyone behind by leve-raging technology to make service provision under various initiatives more accessible, efficient, and transparent for all.  
Another aspect of employment is the provision of social security. India is home to a large informal, unorganised sector that offers employment. One of the characteristics of this employment avenue is a lack of written contracts and social security coverage provided by the employer. For these workers, a single incident such as illness, injury, accident, job loss or any other emergency can rapidly shift from security to adversity. Social security by the government is the promise of protection during distress that prevents temporary crises from becoming lifelong hardships. While the Government’s continuous efforts have led to significant progress, extending social security benefits to all remains a key priority area.
Until recently, millions of unorganised workers had limited access to and awareness of the benefits of social security schemes available to them. The e-Shram portal addresses this challenge. Unorganised workers now have a unique identification and understanding of the government’s social security schemes. The portal, launched in 2021, has registered over 30.7 crore unorganised workers. The portal acts as a “one-stop solution” for workers by integrating around 13 social security schemes in one place, enabling targeted delivery of benefits, improved access, and scheme saturation. The Union Budget 2025-26 significantly extended social security to gig workers by facilitating e-Shram registration, provi- ding unique identity cards, and expanding coverage under PM Jan Arogya Yojana.
By sharing workers’ details with the states/UTs, the portal enables better planning and imple- mentation of worker welfare programmes at the state level. Furthermore, the portal has been integrated with the NCS, SIDH, PM-SYM, myScheme, DISHA, etc.
(To be contd)