everal legislative measures taken for the Welfare of Labourers

OPERATIONALIZATION OF RSBY AND PASSING OF UNORGANISED WORKERS’ SOCIAL SECURITY BILL ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF 2008 18:12 IST YEAR END REVIEW –08 The passing of the Unorganized Sector Workers’ Social Security Bill, 2008 by the Parliament, the operationalization of the ‘Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in 12 States, the upgradation of ITIs, the expansion of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP), the extension of ban on employment of child labour to eight more occupations, issuing of Notification on fixing the minimum wages for workers employed in the scheduled occupations and several other Legislative measures to improve the condition of labourers in the country marked the activities of the Ministry of Labour & Employment during the year 2008. UNORGANIZED SECTOR WORKERS Passing of ‘Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Bill, 2008 The Parliament passed the Unorganized Sector Workers Social Security Bill, 2008 which aims at providing social security to crores of workers in the Unorganized sector. The definition of ‘unorganized worker’ has been enlarged to include all such workers as are not covered by the existing social security legislations like EPF Act. The Bill makes it mandatory for the Central Government to formulate, from time to time, suitable welfare schemes for different sections of the unorganized sector workers on matters relating to life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits, old age protection etc. The operationalisation of “Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana ( RSBY)” The “Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana ( RSBY)” which was launched in October last year, became operational from April this year. By the end of November, this year, 21 States and one Union Territory have advertised to initiate the process to implement the scheme. Out of these 21 States, 12 States namely Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, NCT of Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand have started issuing smart cards and 8,79,667 cards have been issued in these States taking the health insurance cover to 43,98,335 persons. Nagaland is first State in the North East Region to initiate the process to implement the scheme followed by Tripura and Assam. The scheme is likely to commence in the other States of North East shortly. Remaining States except Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are also in the process of implementation of the scheme during the current year. The Government has decided to extend the RSBY to building and other construction workers who are Above Poverty Line (APL) and registered under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. The premium for the scheme shall be paid from funds collected under this Act. The States have been requested to take action in this regard LEGISLATIVE MEASURES The Apprentices Act, 1961 was amended in January this year to provide for reservation for other Backward Classes. 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, subject to maximum of Rs.20, 000/-. The amendment was notified in April this year. Amendment to the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923 for replacing the term ‘workman’ by ‘employee’ to make the Act gender neutral has been approved by the Cabinet in August this year. It also incorporates provisions to remove restrictive clauses in Schedule I of the Act to make the Act more workers friendly. It has been introduced in the Parliament. The Bill to amend the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 to cover teachers in educational institutes was introduced in the Lok Sabha last year. It was referred to the Standing Committee on Labour for examination. Taking into account its recommendations, it has been decided to implement the amendment retrospectively w.e.f. 03.04.1997. Accordingly, a new Bill, the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2008 has been prepared and approved by the Cabinet an is awaiting introduction in the current Session of the Parliament. In order to encourage employment of persons with disabilities, the Central Government will reimburse the employers’ contribution to the employees provident fund and Employees State Insurance Corporation for the first three years in respect of physically challenged employees working in the organized sector and drawing monthly wage upto Rs.25,000. Suitable amendments in the Employees State Insurance (Central) Rules, 1950 and schemes under Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 have been made from April this year. VOCATIONAL TRAINING DGE&T has initiated action to provide the skills for youth with lesser educational qualification through the Skill Development Initiative Scheme in areas/clusters which have significant population of muslims. The objective of the Scheme is to provide vocational training to school leavers, existing workers, etc. to improve their employability by optimally utilizing the infrastructure available in Government and private institutions and industry. This scheme would inter-alia benefit the youth belonging to muslim community who suffer from poor access to main stream education. Under this Scheme, courses would be available for persons having completed 5th standard. Madarsa educated students having passed 5th standards can be benefited with the above Scheme. These qualifications have been prescribed keeping in mind the level of knowledge required to understand the contents of the course curriculum and other related life skills. So far 211 Modular Employable Skill courses have been developed, out of which a total of 89 and 84 courses have been developed for the persons having passed 5th and 8th standards respectively. The Government had announced that 1396 ITIs would be upgraded into Centres of Excellence in specific trade and skills under public-private partnership. Under the proposed scheme, the State Government as the owner of the ITI, will continue to regulate admissions and fees, the new management will be given academic and financial autonomy, and the Central Government will provide financial assistance by way of seed money. Under this scheme, 300 ITIs are being upgraded every year, beginning 2007-08, under the PPP mode. CHILD LABOUR In pursuance of government’s commitment to eliminate child labour in hazardous areas, the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme has been extended to cover 250 districts. A major activity undertaken under the NCLP is the establishment of special schools to provide non-formal education, vocational training, supplementary nutrition, stipend, health care etc. to children withdrawn from employment. About 4.50 lakh children from special schools of NCLPs have been mainstreamed into the formal education system. A Protocol on Prevention, Rescue, Repatriation and Rehabilitation of migrant and trafficked child labour has been developed by the Ministry. It lays down guidelines on actions to be taken by different departments of State Governments, Police, CWCs, NGOs and other stakeholders. PRIs have been identified as an important stakeholder and can play an effective role, especially in awareness generation, identification and monitoring of vulnerable groups and in building conducive environment for rehabilitation and reintegration of rescued children. Employment of child labour has been prohibited in eight new occupation and processes from September this year under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986. These eight new occupations/processes are: diving, mechanized fishing; food processing, beverage industry, timber handling and loading, mechanical lumbering, warehousing, and processes involving exposure to free silica such as slate, pencil industry, stone grinding, slate stone mining, stone quarries, agate industry. SOCIAL SECURITY Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) The ESIC has increased its network to 144 Hospitals, 42 Annexes and 1388 Dispensaries covering 3.94 crore beneficiaries. The ESIC has made plans to commission Model Hospitals in each State. Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) EPF Scheme has been revised to cover international workers to enable the Government to enter into 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. WAGES Based on the recommendations of the Minimum Wages Advisory Board, the Ministry of Labour & Employment has issued the Notification in August this year fixing the 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 at Rs.180/- Rs.150/- and Rs.120/- per day in respect of ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ Areas respectively. Similarly, minimum rates of wages have been notified in September this year for workers engaged in the “Employment of Watch and Ward” in the central sphere at Rs.180/-, 150/- and 120/- per day for workers without arms and Rs.200/-, 170/- and 140/- per day for workers with arms in respect of area A, B and C respectively. WAGE BOARDS The Government had constituted two Wage Boards one for the Working Journalists and another for Non-Journalist Newspaper Employees as per Section 9 and 13(c) of the Working Journalists & Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955. The Wage Boards have recommended interim hike of 30% in wages, which have been notified. OTHERS The Ministry of Labour & Employment is commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Factories Act, 1948 by observing year 2008 as the “Year of Industrial Safety and Health”. During the year, V.V.Giri National Labour Institute completed about 30 Research Projects and conducted various training programmes including those catering the needs of North-Eastern States and International participants. The first V.V.Giri Memorial Award for Excellence in Labour Studies was also awarded in August this year. Through the intervention of the Central Industrial Relations Machinery (CIRM), during last one year, various major strikes called by United Forum of Bank Unions, All India SBI Officers’ Federation, Indian National Mine Workers’ Federation, All India Joint Action Forum of Cement Workers’ Federation, Airport Authority Employees’ Union, Contract labourers of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd. and Unions operating in Security Printing & Minting Corporation India Ltd. were averted. The ‘Working Group to suggest ways of moving forward in important labour matters’ constituted under the chairpersonship of Secretary (L&E) submitted its Report in May this year. The Report covers four broad areas, namely Creation of jobs, making available adequate social security facilities to workers, laying down a framework for effective implementation of labour laws and ensuring proper working conditions for workers in industrial establishments.

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