Ending hassles of employers in payment of EPF subscription of employees, the government today started an electronic mechanism that promises to bring transparency and accessibility.

The initiative, launched by Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, offers an opportunity to employers to file their returns online from anywhere and anytime.

"The hassles of preparing various monthly and annual paper returns and visiting the EPFO offices for submitting them will become a thing of the past," Kharge said.

He said provisions are being made under the scheme so that employees can also check their accounts for updates.

He said EPFO offices would not have to manually enter the returns in the system to update information and make several communications in case of mistakes or deficiencies in paper returns.

EPFO Commissioner R C Mishra said with the updating of the new employee and existing employee details under the new online initiative, the "claims settlement process would become much quicker". This will also do away with the need of annual accounts preparation at the end of the year.

He said the manpower engaged for these old processes can be gainfully utilised for other activities.

Kharge, who greeted the working population on the occasion of International Labour Day today, said it has been their endeavour to improve the working conditions and quality of life of workers through policies and programmes.

Kharge said under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, over 2.89 crore cards have been issued.

The scheme envisages provisions of smart cards to beneficiaries to facilitate cashless medical transaction up to Rs 30,000.

Referring to the latest report of the National Sample Survey Organisation, he said there has been a 45 per cent decline in child labour from 90.75 lakh in 2004-05 to 49.84 lakh in 2009-10.

Kharge launched a quarterly newsletter 'Shram Sansar' on the occasion to help establish an effective channel of communication between the government and the employers and worker organisations.