Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana extended, now no need to submit Affidavit Form for claims

In a significant decision to provide relief to the beneficiaries of Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana, the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has done away with the requirement of submitting the claim on an Affidavit form, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said in a release. The decision was taken after reports of many beneficiaries facing problems in submitting the claim on the Affidavit form emerged, the statement added.

The beneficiaries who have from now 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 on the Affidavit form.

The beneficiaries who have not even submitted the claim online can submit the print out of the claim after duly signing the required documents, the ESIC said. Among other decisions, the ESIC had also decided to enhance the rate of relief under the scheme from the existing 25 per cent of the wages to 50 per cent average of the daily earnings. Because of the large number of daily wagers rendered unemployed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the government had also relaxed the eligibility requirements for the beneficiaries for the period between 24th March, 2020 and 31st December 2020.

Started in 2018 as a pilot scheme for a period of two years, the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana provides a fraction of the daily wages for a period of up to 90 days as a relief payment to those employees who have lost their jobs. The once in a lifetime benefit scheme was later extended till the end of June 2021 because of the Coronavirus pandemic making many employees jobless. All the employees who are covered under Section 2(9) of the ESI Act can claim benefits under the scheme.