e-Shram Card: Free UAN and Rs 2 Lakh Cover

Think of a mason who moves from site to site, a woman who rolls papads at home, a delivery rider, or a farm labourer who works for daily cash. None of them has a salary slip, a provident fund, or an employer who records their name anywhere. For years that was the whole problem. When an accident happened, when a welfare scheme opened, or when a relief payment was announced after a flood, there was no list that these workers were on. They stood outside every safety net because the government had no single record that they existed.

The e-Shram card was built to close that gap. A construction worker who registers today gets a free 12-digit Universal Account Number, a printable card, and a place in the national database of unorganised workers that the Ministry of Labour and Employment maintains. From that record, an accident insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh under PMSBY is attached, and a growing set of central welfare schemes can find and reach the worker. The card by itself is not cash in hand. What it does is make an invisible worker visible to the state, so that the help meant for that worker can finally arrive.

The card is meant for the unorganised sector, so the rules turn on what kind of work you do and whether any formal safety net already covers you.

• You are aged 16 to 59. Registration is open to workers in this age band.
• You are an unorganised worker. This includes domestic workers, street vendors, agricultural and farm labour, construction workers, gig and platform workers, fishermen, truck and auto drivers, small-shop helpers, home-based artisans, and similar daily-wage or self-employed work with no formal employer.
• You are not an EPFO or ESIC member. e-Shram is for workers outside the organised safety net. If you already contribute to the Employees Provident Fund or Employees State Insurance, you fall under that system instead.
• You are not an income tax payer. The scheme targets low-income unorganised labour.

If you have an inactive provident fund from an old job but now work in the unorganised sector with no current contribution, you can usually register. When you are unsure, the safest step is to check the latest eligibility note on the official portal before you apply.

It helps to separate the two things the card gives you today from the wider promise of scheme convergence.

• A free Universal Account Number and e-Shram card. The UAN is a 12-digit number that stays with you for life. Once issued it does not change, even if you move state or change trade. You can download the card as a PDF or keep the digital copy on your phone.
• Accident insurance of Rs 2 lakh under PMSBY. Eligible registered workers are provided accident cover under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana. The cover pays Rs 2 lakh for accidental death or total permanent disability and Rs 1 lakh for partial permanent disability. PMSBY itself carries a small annual premium and its own age and bank-account rules, so check the current terms of your cover on the portal.
• A single window to welfare schemes through the One Stop Solution. In October 2024 the Ministry launched the eShram One Stop Solution, which maps and integrates central welfare schemes to your e-Shram record. As of that launch, 14 schemes of different central ministries had been integrated or mapped, so a registered worker can see and reach them from one place.

The schemes mapped through the One Stop Solution include the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor scheme PM SVANidhi, PMSBY accident cover, PMJJBY life cover, the National Family Benefit Scheme, MGNREGS, PMAY Gramin and PMAY Urban housing, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY health cover, the fisheries scheme PMMSY, the PM Kisan Maandhan pension, the Indira Gandhi widow and disability pensions, One Nation One Ration Card, and the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana for mothers. Mapping means the schemes can find you through your record. You still have to meet each scheme's own eligibility rules to draw its benefit.

Many videos and messages claim that every e-Shram card holder gets Rs 1,000 or even more every month in cash. That is not an official central e-Shram benefit. The Ministry has not announced a monthly cash payment to all card holders, and no such scheme runs from the e-Shram portal itself. What is real is the accident cover and the mapping to welfare schemes described above. Some state governments run their own assistance for registered workers, and those state payments follow the state's own rules. Treat any promise of guaranteed monthly cash from the central e-Shram scheme with caution and confirm it on eshram.gov.in before believing it.

1. Open the portal or visit a CSC. Go to eshram.gov.in and choose self-registration, or visit the nearest Common Service Centre if you want help. Registration is free at both.
2. Verify with Aadhaar. You enter your Aadhaar number and complete an Aadhaar based eKYC with an OTP sent to your Aadhaar-linked mobile. The portal then auto-fills your name, date of birth, gender, and address from Aadhaar.
3. Enter your work and bank details. Select your occupation from the standard list and add your bank account for future benefit transfers.
4. Get your UAN and card. On submission the system issues your 12-digit UAN at once. You can download the e-Shram card as a PDF straight away.
5. Keep your record updated. Update your mobile, address, or occupation on the portal when they change, so that any mapped scheme can reach you correctly.

There is no fee at any step. If a middleman asks you to pay to make an e-Shram card, that is a warning sign, because the registration is free.

Full document checklist: Documents required for an e-Shram card

• The Aadhaar OTP does not arrive. Your mobile number may not be linked to Aadhaar. Get the number linked at an Aadhaar centre first, then register again.
• You are shown as an EPFO or ESIC member. e-Shram is only for unorganised workers. If the record is wrong because of an old, inactive job, check the current portal rule on inactive membership before you decide you are barred.
• Your bank account is not seeded with Aadhaar. A future scheme payment can fail if your bank account is not linked to Aadhaar. Seed it at your bank branch so that mapped benefits reach you.
• A PMSBY accident claim is stuck. An accident claim under the linked insurance runs to a time limit, so the family should act quickly and apply through the worker's bank as the paying channel. Keep the accident record, the police or hospital papers, and the UAN together.

• Official portal: eshram.gov.in
• Helpline: 14434
• Track your status: How to check e-Shram status
• Step-by-step apply guide: The apply walkthrough
• Schemes for you: All unorganised worker schemes

When a registered scheme benefit is delayed and the helpline leads nowhere, a written Right to Information request to the concerned public authority often moves the file, because the office then has to answer in writing or explain the delay. Ask narrow, factual questions about your application number, the officer handling it, and the reason for any delay. Draft it in minutes with the AI RTI Drafter and learn the full filing and appeal process from The RTI Playbook.

The e-Shram portal was launched on 26 August 2021 by the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, through the Ministry of Labour and Employment, to build the first national database of unorganised workers. In October 2024 the same ministry added the eShram One Stop Solution to map central welfare schemes to each registered worker. You can see e-Shram alongside every other central and state welfare scheme on the All Modi-era Sarkari Yojana index 2014 to 2026.

No. It is a worker identity and database record, not a promise of work or wages. It gives you a UAN, accident cover under PMSBY, and a single window to welfare schemes, but it does not guarantee a job the way a MGNREGA job card offers days of work.

Yes. Registration on eshram.gov.in and at a Common Service Centre is free. You should not pay any charge to register, and no fee is needed to download the card.

No. There is no central e-Shram scheme that pays every card holder a fixed monthly cash amount. The confirmed central benefits are the free UAN card, PMSBY accident cover for eligible workers, and access to mapped welfare schemes. Check any cash claim on the official portal.

Usually yes, if you no longer contribute to the provident fund and now work in the unorganised sector. Confirm the current rule on inactive membership on the portal before you apply.

You can log in again at eshram.gov.in with your UAN and an Aadhaar OTP and download a fresh copy of the card for free.

The national e-Shram helpline is 14434. You can call it for help with registration, your UAN, or a mapped scheme query.

• PM Suraksha Bima Yojana accident cover
• PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana life cover
• PM Shram Yogi Maandhan pension for workers
• Jan Dhan bank account for benefit transfers
• Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY health cover
• MGNREGA job card for guaranteed work days
• Ration card under the food security law
• PM SVANidhi loans for street vendors
• All Modi-era Sarkari Yojanas 2014 to 2026
• accident insurance cover that comes with the e-Shram card

• Official portal: eshram.gov.in
• Ministry of Labour and Employment, e-Shram launched 26 August 2021
• eShram One Stop Solution launched October 2024, 14 central schemes integrated or mapped: PIB, Ministry of Labour and Employment
• PMSBY accident cover Rs 2 lakh death or total disability and Rs 1 lakh partial disability: jansuraksha.gov.in
• Helpline: 14434

Written by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak.

Last reviewed: 1 July 2026.

Last reviewed: 1 September 2026.