WELFARE OF WORKERS

Press Information Bureau Government of India
Wednesday, January 21, 2009

LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT
REPUBLIC DAY 2009

The Ministry of Labour & Employment has made serious efforts to promote welfare of workers , especially relating to enhancement of well being of farmers, farm labour and those belonging to the unorganized sector, striving for elimination of child labour , providing vocational training etc. Major initiatives taken are indicated below: Legislative Measures The Apprentices Act, 1961 was amended, inter alia, to provide for reservation for other Backward Classes. The amendment was notified on 28.01.2008 making it effective w.e.f. 01.02.2008. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 was amended to enhance the medical bonus from Rs.250/- to Rs.1000/- and also empowering the Central Government to increase it from time to time before every three years, by way of notification in the Official Gazette, subject to maximum of Rs.20,000/-. The amendment was notified on 15.04.2008 making it effective from the same date. To provide social security to workers in the unorganized sector, the ‘Unorganized Workers Social Security Bill, 2008’ has been passed both by the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. The salient features of the Bill include formulation of welfare schemes for different sections of the unorganized sector workers on matters relating to: (a) life and disability cover, (b) health and maternity benefits, (c) old age protection, and (d) any other benefits that may be decided by the Central Government and constitution of a National Social Security Advisory Board at Central level and similar Boards at State level. Bills to amend (i) the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 so that teachers in educational institutes benefit from it, (ii) the Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Act, 1988 to expand its coverage and allow maintenance of registers and submission of returns through soft devices, (iii) the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923 for replacing the term ‘workman’ by ‘employee’ to make the Act gender neutral, (iv) the Plantation Labour Act, 1951 to change the definition of employer, family and workers, adding a new chapter on safety bringing it in line with the provisions of Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, (v) the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 to enable utilization of medical facilities of the Employees State Insurance Corporation for implementing the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and Section 66 of the Factories Act so that women workers can be engaged during night shifts providing adequate safeguards for the safety, dignity, honour and transportation have been introduced in the Parliament. Unorganized Sector Workers Pending the enactment of The Unorganized Sector Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008, a Scheme called the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to provide health cover to unorganized BPL workers has been made operational with effect from April 1, 2008. Under the scheme, a Smart Card is being issued to each beneficiary and covers a family of 5 persons facilitating cashless/paperless transaction upto Rs.30,000/- per annum. So far, 21 States and one Union Territory have implemented the scheme and some others are at various stages. More than a million cards have been issued. Medical assistance is now available to 5 million people and is being obtained by those who need it. About 10,000 cards are being issued daily. Government also decided to extend the RSBY to building and other construction workers with stipulation that the premium for the scheme would be paid from the fund collected by State Governments under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996. The step will cover the second largest group of unorganized workers i.e. construction workers. Government has also recently approved inclusion of Maternity Benefit under the RSBY. Various other measures have also been taken for promoting the welfare of unorganized sector workers such as enhanced housing subsidy under the Revised Integrated Housing Scheme (RIHS) 2007-08 for beedi workers. During 2007-08, 38,978 houses have been constructed for beedi workers, which was double of the number of houses constructed in 2006-07. This growth momentum will continue. Group Insurance, Medical and Health Care, Scholarships and Pension for the construction workers out of the cess funds are being provided under Central Government’s monitoring. Vocational Training With a view to creating a world class skilled labour force, vocational training has been given utmost importance. The existing Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are being upgraded as Centres of Excellence Employment Exchanges are being upgraded on a mission mode under e-governance project. Steps are also being taken to establish 1500 new ITIs and 5000 Skill Development Centres in PPP mode. Skill Development Initiative (SDI) for school dropouts and existing workers was launched in 2007-08 in 340 modules. During the current year, it is proposed to train 2 lakh persons. For realizing Prime Minister’s vision of imparting vocational training to 500 million persons by 2022, a presentation on Skill Development Policy was made to Prime Minister during the meeting of the PM’s Council on Skill Development on 03.11.2008. After incorporating his advice and the recommendations of the National Skill Development Coordination Board, the policy is now ready to be brought before the Cabinet. Elimination Of Child Labour The National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme operates in 250 districts. In addition, a $40 million INDUS project (Indo-US joint project) on Child Labour has also been launched in 21 districts with additional features of vocational training, monitoring and tracking of child labour and providing viable income generation alternatives for their families etc. A Protocol on Prevention, Rescue, Repatriation and Rehabilitation of migrant and trafficked child labour has been developed. The list of occupations for which child labour is banned has been enlarged. Social Security Careful attention has also been paid to the efficient operation of our Social Security Organizations – Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) and Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). The Central Board of Trustees (CBT), Employees Provident Fund (EPF) mandated appointment of Multi-fund Managers for efficient management of the EPFO corpus. The new Fund Managers started functioning w.e.f. 01.10.2008. In order to arrest the increasing deficit in the Pension Fund under the Employees Pension Scheme, 1995, necessary amendments have been carried out with regard to computation of past service, withdrawal benefit etc. as a result of which the entire deficit has been wiped out. The EPF Scheme revised to cover international workers to enable the Government to enter into bilateral Social Security agreements with various countries with a view to seek exemption from Social Security contribution for Indian workers posted abroad by Indian companies to make them more competitive internationally. An Unemployment Insurance Scheme viz. “Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana” is being operated by the ESIC w.e.f. 01.04.2005. Wage ceiling enhanced for coverage under the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 from Rs.7,500/- to Rs.10,000/- per month. Others The Central Government has revised the national floor level minimum wage from Rs.66/- per day to Rs.80/- per day with effect from 01.09.2007. Besides, minimum rates of wages for workers employed in the scheduled employment “Employment of Sweeping and Cleaning excluding activities prohibited under the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993” in the Central sphere under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 have been notified on 7.8.2008. Minimum wages in respect of another scheduled employment, namely, “Employment of Watch and Ward” with and without arms in the Central sphere have been notified on 18.09.2008. Two Wage Boards, one for the Working Journalists and another for Non-Journalists Newspaper Employees have been constituted. Their Interim Report for grant of 30% Interim Relief has been accepted and this hike notified. Year 2008 was observed as the “Year of Industrial Safety and Health”. The National Employment Policy and the National Occupational Safety and Health Policy are being formulated. These measures will go a long way in achieving the objective of having a strong, efficient and productive workforce in India. *Inputs from the Ministry of Labour & Employment RTS/VN SS-16/SF-16/21.01.2009