The Ministry of Labour and Employment, one of the oldest and
important Ministries of the Government of India, is responsible
for ensuring harmonious industrial relations, and above all to protect
and safeguard the interest of workers with due regard to creating
a healthy work environment for higher production and productivity.
It is also responsible for developing and coordinating vocational,
skill training and employment services.
After assuming the office in June 2004, the UPA Government
adopted the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). The Labour Ministry has
been, during the last two years, engaged in fulfilling the agenda
stipulated in the NCMP for enhancement of the welfare of workers
especially in the unorganised sector, ensuring effective implementation
of minimum wages, striving for elimination of child labour and
review of labour laws.
Welfare of Unorganised Sector Workers
The welfare of workers in the unorganised
sector, who constitute 93 per cent of the total workforce, remained
the focus of concern of the Labour Ministry.
The Ministry held consultation with social partners for redrafting
the Unorganised Sector Workers Bill, 2004, for which it has received
inputs from the National Advisory Council and the National Commission
for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector in the form of draft bills.
The objective of this legislation is to regulate employment
and conditions of service of workers in the unorganised sector and
to provide for their social security, safety and health.
The draft bills were discussed at the 40th session
of Indian Labour Conference (December 2005).
A Tripartite Working Group has been constituted
on the advice of the ILC to examine all the draft bills and prepare
one final draft bill.
Meanwhile, the Ministry made a presentation
to the Hon’ble Prime Minister on extending social security to the
workers in the unorganised sector. As a follow up to it, a meeting was held with LIC under the Chairmanship
of Member, LEM, Planning Commission, in Mumbai, in which it was suggested that LIC should work out the
projections of funds required for the scheme providing for: (i)
life cover of Rs.5000; (ii) accidental cover of Rs.40,000;
(iii) health insurance @Rs.6000;
(iv) maternity benefit of Rs.1,000 for two births; and, (v)
minimum pension of Rs.200 or 300 or 400 or 500 per month guaranteed for life. Some
models for financing the scheme were also suggested.
The LIC has worked out the projections and
informed that the Corporation has constituted a “Strategic Business
Group”(SBG) to go into details of all aspects, including implementation
of various such schemes for the 37 crore workers in the unorganised
sector. The report of SBG is awaited. The proposal
is being discussed with the officials of LIC and other agencies.
Labour Welfare Schemes
The
Labour Welfare Organisation of the Ministry is administering welfare
schemes for benefit of beedi, cine and non-coal mine workers and
their families. The Government has enhanced the rate of cess levied
on manufactured beedis from Rs.2 to Rs.4 per thousand beedis, and
further to Rs.5 per thousand beedis w.e.f. April 1,2006. For grant
of housing subsidy, the Government has liberalised and totally decentralised
the Housing Scheme to be implemented independently by respective
State governments. Houses
have been sanctioned to various States under this scheme, viz. Andhra
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Karnataka. Workers’ contributions have been reduced from
Rs.40, 000 to Rs.5, 000 only to avail a subsidy of Rs.40, 000 per
house.
The
Planning Commission has allocated Rs.5 crore as token allocation
for construction of houses by beedi workers etc. under a similar
plan scheme for construction of 1 lakh houses during 2006-07.
Several other welfare schemes, viz. health and medical care,
scholarships for school/college going children (Rs.250 per year
for 1st standard to Rs.8,000 for BE/MBBS) etc., are being
implemented for workers and their families.
There are 7 hospitals, and around 270 dispensaries for beedi
workers all over the country. Another hospital has been sanctioned for beedi
workers at Jhalda in Purulia district of West Bengal recently.
There are around 2 crore-construction workers in the country. To protect the interest of the Construction
Workers, the Government has enacted Building and Other Construction
Workers (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act,
1996, and Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act,
1996. Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry, Delhi,
Uttaranchal, Gujarat and West Bengal have started implementing them. At the instance of Prime Minister’s Office,
the Ministry has constituted a special group to monitor implementation
of the following laws in the States:
Ø The Building and Other Construction
Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996
Ø The Building and Other Construction
Workers (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act,
1996
Ø The Bonded Labour System (Abolition)
Act, 1976
A special group,
under Chairmanship of Secretary (L&E) , has been touring various
States and meeting Chief Ministers/Governors of States, especially
in the North-East and J&K, impressing upon them to implement
the Acts at the earliest. The group has held 6 region-wise meetings,
besides 3 national level workshops at Guwahati, Thiruvanathapuram
and Ahmedabad.
Enforcement of Minimum Wages Act
In order to monitor the Minimum Wages
Act, 1948 more effectively to safeguard the interest of workers
mostly in the Unorganised sector, the Central Government directed
States/UTs to develop and introduce a new system of external monitoring
through civil society. Accordingly, the State governments are now
including more persons form the civil society to the Advisory Boards
constituted to oversee the implementation of the Act. The Labour
Commissioners, working under the Chief Central Commissioner (Central),
have also been told to ensure that no worker is paid less than the
minimum wages fixed by the Central/State Governments.
Industrial Relations
Maintenance
of harmonious industrial relations situation remains an avowed objective
of the Ministry. Due to constant endeavour of the Industrial Relations
machinaries, both Central and the State, the overall industrial
relations climate has remained peaceful and cordial
.
During 2004-2005, the Chief Labour
Commissioner (Central) Organisation disposed
of 6,236 disputes and
brought about 1,566
formal settlements
- 2,017 settlements
through mediation,
registering 7 per cent increase. Out of 447 threats of
strike, as many as
440 strikes have been averted through
conciliation and mediation.
The success rate in averting strikes
is more than
98 per cent.
In
the last two years, notable strikes
were averted and national level
settlements brought about in banking
industry, cement industry,
ONGC, BSNL, MTNL,
all major ports
and docks, oil
industry, Hindustan
Copper Ltd. Government of India Mint and Security Presses,
Indian Airlines, etc.
Tripartism
The
Government, being committed to the ethos and culture of tripartism,
took measures to revitalise it. The Labour Ministry continued to
have consultations with the social partners to obtain a consensus
for enacting new laws or bringing about changes in the existing
laws. The objective of the Ministry is to knit the views of all
the social partners in framing the policy for working class. Accordingly,
the Ministry of Labour and Employment held several tripartite meetings
of various Committees / Boards during the year which included the 40th Session of the
Indian Labour Conference, the apex level tripartite body at the
national level.
SOCIAL SECURITY TO WORKERS IN THE ORGANISED SECTOR
EPF Interest Rate
The
Government approved the 9.5 per cent rate of interest on EPF deposits
of subscribers as recommended by the Central Board of Trustees for
the years 2002-03, and 2003-04. The issue had been pending for the
last three years. The interest rate of 9.5 per cent for 2004-05
and 8.5 per cent for 2005-06 were also approved meeting the shortfall
from EPFO reserves. The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)
brought 38,445 new establishments within the purview of the Employees Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions
Act, 1952 during 2004-05, as against 25,878 establishments during
2003-04. This represents
a 48.56 per cent increase in coverage of new establishments.
During
2004-05, 10.18 lakh new subscribers were enrolled. Out of these, 8.83 subscribers were enrolled in the unorganised
sector.
Total
holdings under the three funds of the EPFO increased by 17.03 per
cent and stood at Rs. 1,99,015.39 crore, including unexempted Provident
Fund.
Computerisation
of Employees Provident Fund, under the ‘Re-inventing EPF, India’
project, has been given a new thrust for allotment of a unique National
Social Security Number (NSSN) to each of EPF subscribers.
Over 29.04 lakh records have been processed of which 28,78,593
NSSN have been generated so far.
ESI Scheme
The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), functioning
under the aegis of the Labour Ministry, increased wage ceiling eligibility
from Rs. 6,500 to Rs.7,500 and also extended the ESI Scheme to new
geographical areas. As a
result, 6.57 lakh more workers were brought within the ambit of
the ESIC scheme.
During
the year 2004 to 2006, 35,000 factories/establishments covered .The
ceiling on medical expenditure enhanced from Rs.750
to Rs. 900 per Insured Person family unit per annum w.e.f. April 1,2005.
The
Corporation has approved setting up of 4 Zonal Super-Specialty Hospitals
at Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.
Daily
rate of cash allowance has been
increased from Rs.45 to Rs.123 per day in respect of disabled
insured persons undergoing training at vocational rehabilitation
centre/institutes. The period to
bear entire expenditure by the Corporation on implementation of
the Scheme in North Eastern States has been enhanced from
3 years to 5 years.
Revolving Fund has been set up in Regional Offices of the ESIC
for payment of cost of drugs and dressings procured by the State
governments.
Rate
contract for Ayurvedic medicines has been formulated for the first
time to facilitate procurement of ayurvedic medicines by ESIC medical hospitals and dispensaries.
ESIC
has become one of the very few organisations in the country to provide
free of cost retroviral medicines worth about Rs. 15,000 per patient
per year under AIDS programme.
ESIC has also supplied equipments to 35 Voluntary Counseling
and Testing Centres under HIV/AIDS programmes besides setting up
42 STD centres.
Unemployment Allowance to Workers
In
order to protect the workers who lose their jobs due to retrenchments,
outsourcing and closures due to emergence of new economic process,
the Employees State Insurance Corporation
has launched a new Scheme known as “Rajiv Gandhi Shramik
Kalyan Yojna” for the employees covered under the ESI Scheme. This scheme, first of its kind in the country, provides an unemployment
allowance for them in case of losing employment involuntarily due
to retrenchment/closure of factory etc.
This scheme was launched from April 1,2005 and the payment
of Rs.24.63 lakh has been made in 179 cases upto March, 2006.
Streamlining of Labour Laws
The Payment of Wages Act, 1936 has been amended to enlarge
to scope and enforceability. The
amendment enhances the existing ceiling applicable from Rs. 1,600
to Rs. 6,500 per month for applicability of the Act and empowers
the Government to enhance the ceiling by notification in future.
The amendment also prescribes more stringent grievance redressal
machinery for enforcing this Act.
To provide flexibility in the employment
of women, a Bill has been introduced in Parliament to amend Sec.
66 of the Factories Act, 1948 to allow women to work in factories
during night shifts with adequate safety, dignity, honour and transportation
from factory premises to residence.
A Bill has been introduced in the Rajya
Sabha for simplification of forms of Returns and Registers prescribed
under certain Labour Laws and to make amendments in the schedule
acts to prescribe penalty on uniform basis for obstruction and non-maintenance
of records.
The Cabinet has approved the amendments to the Apprentices Act, 1961 so
as to provide: (i) reservation for Other Backward Classes; (ii)
related instructions to be imparted at the cost of employer; and
(iii) flexibility in respect of ratio’s prescribed for Apprenticeship
Scheme. The Ministry of Law and Justice has also finalised the Statement
of Objects (SOR) and Memorandum on Delegated Legislation (MRDL).
Notice has been issued for its introduction in Parliament.
Skill Upgradation
Skill upgradation and imparting of
modern skills to workers is another priority of the UPA Government
as only 5 per cent of the total labour force are skilled. The Labour
Ministry has decided to upgrade 500 institutes among the existing
Industrial Training Institutes, ITIs, into Centres of Excellence
to produce multi-skilled workforce of international standards.
The highlights of the scheme are introduction of multi-skilling
courses during the first year, followed by advanced/specialised
modular courses subsequently by adopting industry wise cluster approach,
multi entry and multi exit provisions.
It also envisages Public-Private-Partnership in the form
of Institute Management Committees (IMC) to ensure greater
and active involvement of industry in all aspects of training. Curricula
of 96 modules of Broad Based Training courses covering 16 sectors
and 57 advanced modules covering 13 sectors have been developed and finalised.
In the first batch, 100 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) have been
taken up for upgradation funded through domestic resources. Out of these 80 CoEs have already started training
programme from 2005 and another 16 CoEs will commence training programme
from the August session of 2006. The total cost of 100
CoEs is Rs 160 crore, Central
share being Rs 120 crore, and remaining 40 crore is the
State government share
on a cost sharing ratio of 75:25 between the Central and the State governments.
The project proposal for upgradation of remaining 400 ITIs
as CoEs, have already been
forwarded to Department of Economic Affairs, M/o Finance for negotiation
with World Bank for financial assistance.
The Identification Mission of the World Bank is discussing
the Project proposal with the State and Central Governments.
A draft Aide Memoire has been submitted by the Bank team and it is informed that the Pre-Appraisal Mission
of the Bank may come in August/ September 2006. However, the Ministry proposes to take up another
100 ITIs for up gradation to CoEs from August 2006, and it has been
agreed that the World Bank under “Retroactive Financing” shall reimburse
the cost.
Testing and Certification
of Skill Acquired through Non-Formal means
A new scheme of ‘Testing and Certification of Skills’ acquired
through informal means has been taken up on a pilot basis. To start with, the Construction Industry Development
Council (CIDC), which has been engaged as one of the agencies for
this programme, has tested and certified around 6,000 construction
workers so far. Another
Construction Agency, namely, National academy of Construction, Hyderabad
has recently been identified as the other agency of testing and
certification of skills of workers in Construction sector.
Competency Standards have been developed for 46 skill areas. The competency standards for several other
skill areas are also being developed.
The Scheme is already being implemented in the States of
Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir.
far, 237 new ITI
s
Expansion of Vocational Training Activities
So have been set up and seating seats expanded in some existing
ITI s. This has resulted in an increase in about 12,550 training
seats. The total seating capacity under the craftsmen training programme
as on date has increased to 7.18 lakh.
Over 11,500 women have been trained in employable vocational
areas in the regional vocational training Institutes and national
Vocational Training Institute under Directorate General of Employment
and Training (DGE&T).
Over 35,000 industrial workers have received advanced vocational
training in DGE&T field institutes as per the need of the industry.
A record number of 56,971 physically challenged persons were
admitted, 56,291 evaluated, 2,201 trained and 20,938 were rehabilitated
in the vocational Rehabilitated Centres under DGE&T.
Public
Private Partnership
Public private partnership has been forged further through
constitution of additional Institute Management Committee in 492
ITI’s in 28 States.
Participation
in World Skill Competition
India has participated in the World Skill Competition
held at Malbourne (Australia) during May 6-10, 2006
Elimination of Child Labour
The elimination of child labour especially
from hazardous occupations constitutes one of the most important
endeavours of the Labour Ministry. One hundred more National Child
Labour Projects (NCLP) have been launched in the child labour endemic
districts to increase their number to 250.
The Scheme has also been revised under which emphasis is
laid on convergence with other related Government programmes.
Under the revised scheme, special schools
run under NCLPs will mainstream working children in the age group
of 9-14 years to the formal education system, while working children
in the age group of 5-8 years will be mainstreamed directly through
the Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan. In
addition, the revised scheme also strengthens other components such
as health check-ups, nutritional needs and vocational training released
from work. Outlay in the X Plan for the elimination of child labour has been
increased to Rs. 602 crore as compared to Rs. 250 crore during IX
Plan. The effort is to achieve complete elimination
of child labour from identified hazardous occupations and processes
by the end of the X Plan.
Another eighty thousand children working
as child labourers will be integrated with mainstream of education
by 2007, under the INDUS (Indo-US) project on elimination of child
labour. The project is being implemented in 21 districts
in NCT of Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar
Pradesh with the aim to ensure elimination of child labour from
hazardous occupations in identified districts through effective
convergence with the Department of Education.
The US Dept. of Labour is providing US $ 20 million being
matched with equal amount form the Government of India.
The implementation
of NCLP and INDUS Schemes is being closely monitored through periodical
reports, frequent visits and meetings with the District and State
Government officials. The Government’s commitment to achieve tangible
results in this direction in a time bound manner is also evident
from the fact that in last Regional Level Conferences of District
Collectors held in Hyderabad, Pune, Mussoorie and Kolkata district-wise
review of the Scheme was conducted at the level of Secretary. These
Conferences helped in a big way in early operationalization of Scheme
in the newly selected districts.
In addition to the above two schemes, the Child Labour Division
of the Ministry is implementing
the scheme of Grants-in-aid to voluntary organisations, under which
voluntary agencies are given financial assistance by the Ministry
on the recommendations of the State government to the extent of 75 per
cent of the project cost for the rehabilitation of working children.
Funds under Grants-in aid Scheme
are sanctioned directly to NGO for elimination of Child Labour in districts not covered by NCLP and INDUS Schemes.
New Consumer Price Index
Series
A new Consumer Price Index Series for Industrial Workers with
a revised base of 2001=100 has been launched by the Labour Bureau. The new series is more broad-based covering
78 centers and 289 markets against 70 centres and 226 markets respectively
in the old series. The sample
size has also been increased to 41,040 families from 32,616 families
to conduct family income and expenditure survey.
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