Portability of benefits
Also called: Portable benefits · Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Portability of benefits means a worker's social security entitlements, such as provident fund, pension or rations, move with the worker. The worker keeps them when changing jobs, employers or states. This matters in India because many workers are migrants or change jobs often. Without portability, they lose benefits every time they move.
Example
A worker keeps one UAN (Universal Account Number) for provident fund, so the savings carry over from one employer to the next. Under One Nation One Ration Card, a migrant from Bihar working in Mumbai can draw subsidised rations there. The e-Shram UAN gives each registered unorganised worker a single ID that works anywhere in India.
Don't confuse with
- Universal social security: that is about who is covered, meaning all workers, including informal and gig workers. Portability is about keeping the cover when a worker moves.
Related concepts
- Landless agricultural labourers
- Small and marginal farmers
- Gig worker
- Platform worker
- Universal social security