subscribers Lakhs Subscriber Per staff Total Staff Total Income Rs. Cr. Cost Rate % Total Expenditure Rs. In Crs. Cost per subscriber Rupees 1989-90 105.31 725 14530 68.2 80.28% 54.94 52.16 1990-91 113.30 748 15137 96.87 63.35 61.37 54.16 1991-92 120.78 763 15829 96.87 12.07 73.01 60.44 1992-93 127.67 755 16899 101.29 72.66 91.12 71.37 1993-94 134.44 797 16863 125.40 83.71 101.06 75.17 1994-95 141.66 821 17265 169.72 69.86 118.57 83.70 1995-96 147.36 843 17483 167.91 83.14 139.61 94.74 1996-97 157.53 894 17612 221.96 71.07 157.76 100.14 1997-98 168.16 945 17803 253.99 85.05 216.04 128.47 1998-99 190.11 999 19024 374.05 70.62 264.17 138.95 Averages 829 75.18 86
The average staff deployed over the years for service works out to one employee for 829 workers serviced by Employees' Provident Fund Organisation. The cost of service although looks on an increasing trend on an average it is iRs.86 per worker serviced. This again constitutes 75.18% of the income earned on an average for the last 10 years under examination. When a major portion of income is spent to give service to these covered working class or subscribers, it should only be seen whether the service levels are satisfactory for the working class. Further it should also be examined whether staff posted in service of these working class is really coming to the expectations of the policy makers if not what are the impediments and how the organisational structure or work procedures affecting satisfactory levels. These are discussed in the following chapter under various heading of work area.
Summary and Conclusions
The Employees Provident Fund organization as we have seen above is a body corporate with independent Board. Several committees for its effective functioning assist the Boards. The organization has Zonal, Regional, and Subordinate Regional Offices for effective benefit delivery and to have decentralized administrative network. However, the autonomy of the Board is far from reality for there are more than 45 areas where central Government controls the day today functioning of the Board. Functional autonomy is therefore not there for the Board. Board thus is not able to take some policy decisions for the simple fear of Central Government’s interventions.
The staff of the organization has a good number of facilities in comparison with their counter parts in the Central Government. For many benefits, the budget is not a constraint for them. For all the administrative expenditure, the organization solely depends on the administrative charges collected from the employers of the covered establishments who will pay @ Rs.1.10 Ps. Per Hundred Rupees wages paid as administration charges. This was 0.65 Paisa just two years ago. The entire organization functions in five basic areas of administration viz. Coverage and Registration, Compliance and Enforcement, Receipt and Record of Contributions, Finance and Investment, and Award and Payment of Benefits. It is seen that the organization is not able to contain its expenditure on administration. The service cost is constantly growing every year. It should be seen whether the staff members of the organization are able to deliver the services in tune with the facilities available to them and whether the service delivery requires more work force or modernization.
CHAPTER V
ASSESMENT OF PROVIDENT FUND & PENSION SCHEMES AND THEIR OPERATIONAL DIMENSIONS
In chapter IV, we have discussed the administrative arrangements available for extending Provident Funds and Pension benefits. We have identified five areas, which are taken care of by the administration like:
(a) Coverage and registration
(b) Collection and recording of contributions (c) Compliance and enforcement
(d) Investment of Funds
(e) Award and payment of benefits.
The above five areas will speak of three main areas of administration of this piece of beneficial legislation. The three main areas are:
(i) Bringing the people under the purview of the legislation and collection of contributions and giving effect to the legislation
(ii) Properly investing the funds in accordance with the provisions of law to see that the assurances of the legislation are properly reached to the beneficiary and
(iii) The third area is delivery of benefits. This is the main area where every worker or a subscriber is more concerned.
In our assessment, we will take up the above five areas one by one without condensing them to three areas. We will discuss the progress made in every area and the shortcomings side by side keeping broader policy recommendations in view.
The review of all the five areas will complete the process of implementation of provident funds and pension legislations enlightening on the areas of concern.
To arrive at the conclusions and to examine the reasons why the organization is functioning as it is observed during the study, stakeholders like officials of the Employees Provident fund organization, Union leaders in the Employees Provident Fund Organization, Employers from various establishments, Members of the Provident Funds and their opinion leaders have been interviewed. The places of interview were the offices of the organization and their facilitation centers across the country, the National Academy for Training and Research in Social Security New Delhi, where a large number of officers and the representatives of various establishments participate in various training programs, and the corporate head quarters of the organization.
The details of the interviews conducted and the target audience and their numbers are tabulated as under.
CHART V.1
DETAILS OF INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED