Centre Seeks Sensitive Data of 10 Lakh Workers in Petrol Pumps

The Union Petroleum Ministry’s attempt to collect personal data of over 10 lakh workers at various fuel stations and LPG agencies across India, purportedly for prime minister’s skill development scheme, is being resisted by both the workers and their employers.

Their resistance to the move is based on numerous premises including breach of fundamental rights and alleged intimidation. 
As the NDA government’s skill development program – PMKVY turned out to be a massive failure with only 15 per cent placement rate (of the total 41.3 lakh persons who were trained with different skills, only 6.15 lakh of them got jobs) in the last three years, perhaps to inflate the number of beneficiaries, the government began an exercise to certify the already existing workforce under this program.

NDTV reported on August 21 that the authorities from public sector oil companies are threatening their dealers, who resisted to furnish the data of their workers, that their supplies will be blocked. Sensitive personal information including caste, religion, bank account details, Aadhaar number, parliamentary constituency are some of the details being asked for certifying workers under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) scheme under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). 

On June 6, three public sector oil companies - Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited – have written to 59,000 petroleum and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) dealers across the country, asking them to send data of their employees, purportedly for the RPL scheme. The forms seeking the data of the workers is reportedly prepared by the Petroleum Ministry’s Hydrocarbon Sector Skill Council.

According to this scheme, after the completion of this exercise, the workers would receive RPL certification from the government of India and Rs. 500 would be deposited in their account. The government has set a target of certifying 40 lakh persons by the end of 2020, under this scheme. The certificate would display Aadhaar number, besides the name of the worker. The ‘grade’ of the employee will also be specified, as per the draft certificate notified by PMKVY. 

However, one pertinent question remains unanswered from the government’s side. Does caste, Aadhaar number and other details sought are required to certify workers?

Within a few days of being notified about the scheme, the Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers (CIPD) wrote a letter to the oil companies resisting to participate in the initiative, saying that the personal information sought from the employees is “violative of fundamental rights”.

“Such personal information should be preserved between employers and the employees. Considering the intricacies of secrecy and dignity of maintaining confidentiality, we have written to the oil companies that we will not be interested in sharing this information,” K Suresh Kumar, General Secretary of CIPD told NDTV.

Earlier in July, it has been reported that petrol pump dealers and workers held protests at various centres in Punjab against the RPL scheme. 

While the government had earlier notified that the controversial scheme would cover employees in organised sectors, it is still unclear whether such an operation has begun for any sector apart from petroleum sector.