EPFO’s New Facility on UMANG App

• 29 Sep 2020

Why in News

Recently, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has started a facility on the Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) App which enables members of the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) 1995 to apply online for Scheme Certificates.

• EPS is a social security scheme that was launched in 1995 and is provided by EPFO.
• It makes provisions for pensions for the employees in the organised sector aft er the retirement at the age of 58 years.

Key Points

• Scheme Certificate:
  
  • It is issued to members who withdraw their Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) contribution but wish to retain their membership with EPFO, to avail pension benefits on the attainment of retirement age.
  • Members become eligible for pension only if they have been, cumulatively, a member of the EPS, 1995 for at least 10 years.
  • Upon joining a new job, Scheme Certificate ensures that previous pensionable service is added to pensionable service rendered with the new employer thereby, increasing the number of pension benefits.
  • Further, Scheme Certificate is also useful for family members to avail family pension, in case of the untimely death of the eligible member.
• Requirements for Online Application:
  
  • For availing the service, an active Universal Account Number (UAN) and a mobile number registered with the EPFO is required.
• Benefits:
  
  • The online application will help members avoid unnecessary hardship of physically applying for it, especially during pandemic times and will also eliminate unnecessary paperwork.
• Role of EPFO in Current Times:
  
  • EPFO was already providing 16 services on the App allowing EPF subscribers to access services during Covid-19 from the comfort of their homes in a hassle-free manner.
  • By successfully bringing state-of-the-art technology to the doorstep of its subscribers, EPFO has remained to be a very popular service provider on UMANG App.
  • With India witnessing massive growth in digital connectivity through mobile phones, EPFO is making more and more services digitally accessible to members even in remotest locations through the App.

UMANG App

• It is a unified, secure, multi-channel, multi-platform, multi-lingual, multi-service mobile app.
• It is developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive mobile governance under Digital India.
• It provides a single platform to citizens for accessing pan India e-Government services ranging from central to local government bodies and other citizen-centric services.
• Services Provided: Filing income tax, EPFO services, Aadhar, Pension, ePathshala, e- Land Records, Crop Insurance etc.

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation

• It is a government organisation that manages the provident fund and pension accounts for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India.
• It implements the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
  
  • The Act provides for the institution of provident funds for employees in factories and other establishments.
• It is administered by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• It is one of the world's largest social security organisations in terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions undertaken.

Source: PIB