New Delhi: The Ministry of Labour and Employment is set to introduce the National Labour and Employment Policy of India, titled Shram Shakti Niti 2025, with the vision of creating a fair, inclusive and future-ready labour ecosystem.
The draft policy aims to extend universal social security coverage to all workers, increase women’s workforce participation to 35 per cent by 2030 and integrate skilling, employment, and welfare systems through a unified digital framework.
At the heart of the policy is the creation of a Universal Social Security Account, integrating benefits from EPFO, ESIC, PM-JAY, e-SHRAM, and various state welfare boards. It also aims to merge Skill India, NAPS and PMKVY into a single skill-employment continuum to ensure continuous upskilling and formalisation. A single-window digital compliance mechanism with self-certification and simplified MSME returns will be introduced to ease the regulatory burden on enterprises.
To ensure data-driven governance, the government plans to establish a Unified National Labour Data Architecture, promoting transparency and coordination across ministries. The policy also emphasises promotion of green jobs and a three-tier institutional structure will oversee implementation – comprising a National Labour and Employment Policy Implementation Council (NLPI) at the Centre, state-level labour missions and District Labour Resource Centres (DLRCs) serving as one-stop hubs for worker registration, skilling and grievance redressal.
The rollout will occur in three phases: Phase I (2025–27) will focus on institutional setup and social security integration; Phase II (2027–30) will expand the Universal Social Security Account and employment facilitation cells nationwide; and Phase III (beyond 2030) will consolidate all initiatives.
The ministry has invited public feedback on the draft before sending it for Cabinet approval. It also plans to strengthen the National Career Service (NCS) portal as India’s digital public infrastructure for Employment, supporting inclusive job matching, skill validation and technology-led governance.
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