India receives the ISSA Good Practice Award for Asia and Pacific 2024, presented by Dr. Mohammed Azman, President of ISSA, at the Regional Social Security Forum. | Photo: X/EPFO
New Delhi: India has been awarded the International Social Security Association (ISSA) Good Practice Award for Asia and Pacific 2024. The award was presented by Dr. Mohammed Azman, President of ISSA, at the Regional Social Security Forum held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment announced the recognition on Thursday.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) was also honored with five Certificates of Merit for its notable initiatives, including Communication Channels, E-proceedings: A Case Study on ICT in Justice Delivery, the Massive District Outreach Programme (Nidhi Aapke Nikat), Multilingual Call Centres, and the Prayaas initiative. The awards were received by Ashok Kumar Singh, Director-General of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), on behalf of EPFO.
EPFO adopted the ISSA Guidelines on Communication by Social Security Administrations and implemented them by creating a communication framework document (CFD) to improve engagement with stakeholders. The organization has adopted both digital and non-digital strategies for timely and effective communication, using webinars, SMS, emails, social media, IEC videos, and community outreach camps through the Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 programme.
The E-proceedings initiative has been pivotal in enhancing compliance in a crucial area of the contributory social security system. Previously conducted in-person, these inquiries faced delays and transparency issues. By transitioning to a fully online process, EPFO has ensured a fairer and more transparent inquiry process, significantly reducing the average duration of these proceedings.
The Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 outreach programme has bolstered last-mile service delivery. EPFO operates 139 Regional Offices and 117 District Offices, but the organization’s presence does not cover over 500 districts in the country. This gap sometimes requires members to travel long distances for services like claim submissions or grievance redressal. The Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 programme, held nationwide on the 27th of each month, addresses these challenges by offering on-the-spot resolution of grievances.
The Multilingual Call Centres initiative has advanced inclusive grievance redressal efforts. Given India's vast geographical expanse and linguistic diversity, communicating social security information effectively posed a challenge. EPFO addressed this by providing information in 12 major regional languages, in line with the ISSA Guidelines on Service Quality. These call centres facilitate efficient grievance handling and member satisfaction by addressing questions and concerns in the member’s preferred language.
The Prayaas initiative is another EPFO effort that facilitates the delivery of Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) to retiring members of the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995, on their retirement day. The number of PPOs issued through this initiative has been consistently rising.
EPFO was also given a Special Mention for its Digital Life Certificate (Jeevan Pramaan Patra), which underscores EPFO’s commitment to offering digital ease to pensioners. This Aadhaar-based biometric authentication system simplifies the process of filing Life Certificates for pensioners.
These international accolades recognize EPFO’s efforts to modernize and adopt effective practices that align with the evolving social and economic landscape. This recognition is expected to further motivate EPFO to continue enhancing services for its members, according to the Labour Ministry’s statement.
With IANS inputs