Write a short note on The Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948.

The Employee State Insurance Act, [ESIC] 1948, is a piece of social welfare legislation enacted primarily with the object of providing certain benefits to employees in case of sickness, maternity and employment injury and also to make provision for certain others matters incidental thereto. The Act in fact tries to attain the goal of socio-economic justice enshrined in the Directive principles of state policy under part 4 of our constitution, in particular articles 41, 42 and 43 which enjoin the state to make effective provision for securing, the right to work, to education and public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement. The act strives to materialise these avowed objects through only to a limited extent. This act becomes a wider spectrum then factory act. In the sense that while the factory act concerns with the health, safety, welfare, leave etc of the workers employed in the factory premises only. But the benefits of this act extend to employees whether working inside the factory or establishment or else where or they are directly employed by the principal employee or through an intermediate agency, if the employment is incidental or in connection with the factory or establishment.