The link of today is -
http://esic.nic.in/
The promulgation of Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948(ESI Act), by
the Parliament was the first major legislation on social Security for
workers in independent India. It was a time when the industry was still
in a nascent stage and the country was heavily dependent on an
assortment of imported goods from the developed or fast developing
countries. The deployment of manpower in manufacturing processes was
limited to a few select industries such as jute, textile, chemicals etc.
The legislation on creation and development of a fool proof
multi-dimensional Social Security system, when the country's economy was
in a very fledgling state was obviously a remarkable gesture towards
the socio economic amelioration of a workface though limited in number
and geographic distribution. India, notwithstanding, thus, took the lead
in providing organized social protection to the working class through
statutory provisions.
The ESI Act 1948, encompasses certain health related eventualities that
the workers are generally exposed to; such as sickness, maternity,
temporary or permanent disablement, Occupational disease or death due to
employment injury, resulting in loss of wages or earning capacity-total
or partial. Social security provision made in the Act to counterbalance
or negate the resulting physical or financial distress in such
contingencies, are thus, aimed at upholding human dignity in times of
crises through protection from deprivation, destitution and social
degradation while enabling the society the retention and continuity of a
socially useful and productive manpower.
History
The scheme was inaugurated in Kanpur on 24th February 1952 (ESIC Day)
by then Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. The venue was the
Brijender Swarup Park, Kanpur and Panditji addressed a 70,000 strong
gathering in Hindi in the presence of Pt.Gobind Ballabh Pant, Chief
Minister Uttar Pradesh; Babu Jagjivan Ram, Union Labour Minister; Raj
Kumari Amrit Kaur, Union Health Minister; Sh.Chandrabhan Gupt, Union
Food Minister and Dr.C.L.Katial, the first Director General of ESIC.
The scheme was simultaneously launched at Delhi as well and the initial
coverage for both the centres was 1,20,000 employees. Our first prime
Minister was the first honorary insured person of the Scheme and the
declaration form bearing his signature is a prized possession of the
Corporation.
It is important to mention here that it blossomed as the first social
security scheme in 1944, when the Govt. of the day was still British.The
first document on social insurance was "Report on Health Insurance"
submitted to the Tripartite Labour Conference, headed by Prof.
B.P.Adarkar, an eminent scholar and visionary. The Report was acclaimed
as a worthy document and forerunner of the social security scheme in
India and Prof. Adarkar was acknowledged as "Chhota Beveridge" by none
other than Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Sir, William Beveridge, as all
know, was one of the high priests of social insurance. The report was
accepted and Prof. Adarkar continued to be actively associated with it
till 1946. On his disassociation he strongly advocated management of the
Scheme by an expert from ILO. In 1948 Dr. C.L.Katial, an eminent Indian
doctor from London took over as the 1st Director General of ESIC and he
steered the affairs of the fledgling Scheme till 1953.
Since the red letter day of 24th February in the annals of social
security in India , there has been no looking back. A lighted lamp which
is the logo of ESIC truly symbolises the spirit of the Scheme, lighting
up lives of innumerable families of workers by replacing despair with
hope and providing help in times of distress, both physical and
financial.
During the 61 years of its existence, ESIC has grown from strength to
strength and the Corporation owes it, most of all, to the commitment,
dedication and perseverance of persons like Prof. Adarkar and Dr.
Katial.
