The beneficiaries of the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana can heave a sigh of relief as the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has announced that submitting the claim on an Affidavit form is no longer required under the scheme. The Ministry of Labour and Employment said in a statement that the ESIC has extended the scheme of Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Apart from this, it was also decided that the rate of relief under the scheme will be enhanced from present 25 per cent of the average daily earning to 50 per cent of average daily earning. In order to provide some relief to the workers who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19, the eligibility conditions are also relaxed for the period March 24, 2020, to December 31, 2020.
The decision was taken after reports of several beneficiaries facing problems in submitting the claim on the Affidavit form had recently emerged. The beneficiaries who have submitted their claims online under the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana and submitted the scanned copies of their Aadhar card and other bank details will no longer be needed to file the claim through the Affidavit form
The ESIC added that the beneficiaries who have not even submitted the claim online can submit the print out of the claim after duly signing the required documents. In case the scanned documents are not uploaded at the time of online filing of the claim, the claimant will submit the printout of the claim duly signed along with the required documents. The condition for submitting the claim in Affidavit Form is completely dispensed with by the organisation.
The Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana was started in 2018 as a pilot scheme for two years. It provides a fraction of the daily wages for a duration of 90 days as a relief payment to those employees who have lost their jobs. The once in a lifetime benefit scheme is extended till the end of June 2021 due to the surge in unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. All employees who are covered under Section 2(9) of the ESI Act can claim their benefits under the scheme.
