Online published on 28 February, 2020.
Social security for any salaried individual in a civilized society is a dynamic conception that empowers him for upholding his dignity through a system of participatory approach and collective social action in the event of economic turbulences and any type of physical sufferings resulting from death, disease and disablement. The foundation of this system has been laid on the principle of pooling resources in small quantitiesfor largerindividual and collectivesocial benefits. Thus whiletaking into consideration the well being of individuals the social security systems safeguard and maintain the social efficacy of productive manpower which is a criterion for achieving effectual and greater levels of productivity. Social insurance programme, today, are a global phenomenon. In the post war era, country after country have realized that the industrial health cannot be and should not be delinked from a socially conductive and protective work environment for its workforce. In India, social security is fast emerging as an indispensable chapter of national development programme. Economic liberalization and highly competitive global market trend further underline the need for foolproof social security system for the country's workforce, if it to forge ahead successfully on the chosen path of progress and prosperity through industrialization.
The proliferation of Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 by the Government of India wasthe foremost legislation on social security for workers after the country's independence. The Scheme of the ESI as per the ESI Act provides socialprotectiontothe employeesof the organized sectorand their dependents in the eventof occurrence of unforeseenemergencies, such as, illness, maternity, demise or disablement due to any accident at workplace or as a result of an occupational disease. The Scheme, which has been formulated to suit the health insurance needs of employees, provides complete medical care to insured individuals and their dependents along with cash benefits as a compensation for loss of wages or of capacity to earn the livelihood in different unforeseen emergencies. The ESI Scheme is governed by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation of India, a statutory body set up by the Government of India as per the provisions of the ESI Act, 1948. The present study attempts to examine the performance of ESI in Odisha, with special reference to Choudwar zone. More especially the study sets out to find answers to the set of variables identified after the pilot study in the research area.
Even though the ESI Scheme has been implemented in different parts of India except Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, the present study is confined to different districts of Odisha; those that come under the Choudwar zone. It attempts to assess the perception of insured persons both in factories and establishments.
The study is organized in five chapters. Chapter 1 gives an introduction to the concepts of social security, itsevolution, significance, growthand developmentin India. Chapter2 reviews the available literature on earlier studies on social security schemes, the objective of the study, limitations of the study, research methodology etc. Chapter 3 deals with the profile of the ESI in Odisha. Chapter 4 deals with the empirical data analysis collected from the field visits in different districts of Odisha under Choudwar zone. Chapter 5 deals with findings, suggestions and conclusions. It is hoped that the findings of the study would be of interest to employees, employers, the ESI Corporation, policy makers, researchers and academicians.
