The
45th session
of the Indian Labour Conference began in New Delhi today with Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh laying emphasis on need to focus
particularly on the well being and welfare of migrant workers, domestic workers
and those working in unsafe conditions. These groups not only need special
legislative support but also a more effective implementation of the existing
laws that have been made for their protection and wellbeing. He said we need to
bring in the best international practices for bringing about improvements in
their working conditions.
Inaugurating the two day
conference the prime minister said his government has paid very serious
attention to the issues that Trade Unions have raised from time to time. He
said he believes that providing our people with productive employment
opportunities is the best way of achieving this objective.
Dr. Manmohan
Singh said in order to strengthen our economy and our country we need the
cooperation of both Captions of Industry and our Trade
Unions. He said in recent months a number of steps have
been to boost investment, encourage
enterprise and improve business sentiment. We have paid special attention to
the need for removing bottlenecks that hamper new industrial activity. He
sought the help of all
Captions of Industry and Trade Union leaders to help us in making a success of
these efforts
Dr. Manmohan
Singh said the demands raised by the Trade Unions like universal social
security cover for workers in both the organized and unorganized sectors and
creation of a National Social Security Fund, fixing a National Floor Level
Minimum Wage and provision of minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month under the
Employees’ Pension Scheme. In fact, the Cabinet has already approved amendments
to the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 to provide for a statutory National Floor Level
Minimum Wage are already under an advanced stage of consideration by the
Government. Dr. Manmohan Singh said a Group of Ministers under the Finance
Minister to go into the whole gamut of demands raised by the Trade Unions and
expressed confidence to see some forward
movement on these demands.
Giving
detail the prime Minister said during the period 2004-05 and 2009-10 20 million additional job opportunities were
created. Employment in the organized sector registered a
growth of more than 9% from 26.5 million in 2005 to 29 million in 2011. It
is heartening to note that women employed in the organized sector have also
registered a growth of about 19% during the same period.
He said a skilled workforce
is also a pre-requisite for the achievement of our objective of rapid and
inclusive growth hence special emphasis on skill development has been laid.
Also our aim is to skill 5 crore people by the end of
the 12th Five Year Plan. This will not only help in generating good quality
employment but will also provide Industry with the skilled workforce they need
to expand and modernize their operations.
In order to achieve
our ambitious targets, the skilling efforts of both the Central and the
State Governments need to be supplemented by the private
sector. Furthermore, skills need to be closely matched with emerging
job requirements. The National Skill Development Corporation has
been established for promoting private sector efforts in the area of skill
development. In addition, the Government
has recently taken the decision to set up the National Skill Development Agency
(NSDA) to anchor and operationalize the National
Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) which should play a vital role in
transforming the quality of training in our country. The NSDA will
also endeavor to bridge the social, regional, gender
and economic divides in processes of skill development, he added.
The Prime Minister also
gave a detailed account of the other initiatives taken by the Government especially the Rashtriya
Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in 2008 to provide for smart card based
hospitalization facilities for workers in the unorganized sector and its
further expansion, the enacting of Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008
for the benefit of the workers in the informal sector, increasing the
eligibility limit under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 from Rs 3500 per month
to Rs 10000 per month, the enhancement in
medical bonus payable under the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961 and increase in
the the period of unemployment allowance to
retrenched workers from 6 months to 1 year under the Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana.
He
also referred commencement of National Policy on Safety, Health and
Environment and the National Policy on HIV and AIDS in the World of Work in the
year 2009 and steps taken up to the elimination
of child labour. He said Our Government has taken a decision to amend the Child
Labour Prohibition & Regulation Act, 1986 to ban all child labour below 14
years to enable our children to exercise their right to education. He said the number of
children working as labourers in our country has decreased by 45% from 90.75 lakh in 2004-05 to 49.84 lakh in
year 2009-10.
The
Prime Minster also referred to the introduction of a number of Bills for
amending Acts such as the Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and
Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Act, 1988, the Mines Act,
1952 and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment
and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979. He said besides it a number of amendments in labour laws
are at various stages of consideration.
He said The
Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Act was amended in the
year 2010 to cover factories employing 10 or more workers, instead of the
earlier threshold of 20. The wage ceiling for coverage of employees has been
enhanced from Rupees 10,000 to Rs.15,000
per month. The number of establishments covered has increased to 5.80 lakh till the end of 2011-12 from 3.94 lakh
in year 2008-09. Also, the Modernization
initiatives in the Employees Provident Fund Organization have resulted in 25%
increase in the settlement of claims as compared to the previous year. The
Status of all Provident Fund Accounts is now available online along with SMS
alerts for important account information. Payment is now possible through
National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), he added .
Welcoming the Prime
Minister Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjuna Kharge said The Indian Labour Conference occupies a
predominant place in the functioning of the Ministry of Labour & Employment
as a part of our commitment to Tripartism. It is a
unique forum which brings together the voice of the social partners in
designing our policies and programmes.
The 45th Session of Indian Labour
Conference is taking place at a crucial time when the world economy is still
struggling hard to sail through the ripple effects of the global economic
slowdown. The purpose of this conference is to take certain decisive and
crucial steps for the upliftment of working class of
our country. The presence of Prime Minister of India amongst us at
the inaugural session shows our Government’s solidarity with the cause of
labour.
As a prelude to the Indian
Labour Conference, meeting of Standing Labour Committee takes place which
reviews the Action Taken Report of the conclusions of the preceding labour
conference and also decides upon the agenda item of the forthcoming Indian
Labour Conference. During the last Standing Labour Committee meeting held in
January 2013, the following four agenda items for this 45th Session
of Indian labour Conference were finalized.
1.
Service conditions, wages
and social security for various categories of workers employed in different
Central Govt. and State Govt. schemes (Anganwadi,
Mid-day meal, ASHA, Sarva-Shiksha Abhiyan
and other schemes under various Ministries of Central Government.
2.
Social Security with
special reference to Assured Pension with indexation for all workers including
self-employed workers.
3.
Labour Law for Micro and Small
Enterprises.
4.
Measures to improve
Employment and Employability.
The selection of the agenda items of this 45th
Session of Indian Labour Conference is a fair indicator of the main concerns of
the various stakeholders associated with the subject of labour. Increasing ‘Quality Employment’ and
‘Extending Outreach of Social Security Net’ are the two broad areas receiving
continuous attention of the tripartite constituents.
He said our Government’s policy
of inclusive growth has yielded good results in the last decade. These positive outcomes have inspired us to
keep ‘faster and more inclusive growth’ as the basic mandate of our 12th
five year plan. Ministry of Labour &
Employment in collaboration with social partners and State Governments has been
continuously striving to work towards the cause of nation building.
Vast majority of our workers are
employed in the unorganized sector. Ministry of Labour & Employment endeavors to bring this informal sector under the ambit of
labour laws and cover them under various social security schemes. Our Government has enacted the Unorganized
Workers Social Security Act, 2008 for protecting the interests of unorganized
sector workers. Our Ministry’s flagship scheme Rashtriya
Swasthaya Bima Yojana has expanded its coverage at a very rapid pace.
Industrialization and
technological innovation require trained manpower. Since 54 percent of our population is below
24 years of age, skill development specially of our
youth is one of the highest priorities of Ministry of Labour &
Employment. Our skill development
programmes aim to create a workforce empowered with necessary and continuously
upgraded skills, knowledge and recognized qualifications. We are proposing to start 3000 new ITIs, 5000 new Skill
Development Centres and 27 Advanced Training Institutes in the 12th
Plan. Special focus is being given for skill development in 34 districts
affected by Left Wing extremism. Sector
Skill Councils are contributing towards keeping the Skill Development System
relevant and demand driven.
There has been a significant
reduction in the number of child labour in the country during the last 5
years. This is primarily due to
effective measures like Right to Education and MGNREGA taken by the UPA
Government. The Minister said Ministry of
Labour & Employment has paid special attention for bringing about
improvements in service delivery to the beneficiaries of EPFO by undertaking
computerization and systemic reforms.
ESIC has taken up a number of measures including upscaling
of infrastructure facilities, customer friendly procedures, enhanced coverage,
geographical extension and provision of better health coverage including super
speciality treatment. ESIC has also
entered the field of medical education since 2008.
Labour is a concurrent subject
and the State Governments have enormous responsibilities to rise up to the
challenge. Efficient utilization of the funds, timely documentation and regular
exchange of updated information with the Central Government is necessary for
smooth functioning of all our schemes.
Proper implementation of labour laws by appropriate governments also
needs to be a focus area.
Shri Kharge expressed the hope that the tripartite constituents
of the Indian Labour Conference – Governments, Workers & Employers will
synergize their ideas in this two day’s conference leading to improvement in
the life of our workers and rapid growth of our country’s economy.
The inaugural session was also addressed
by the Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shri Kodikunniel
Suresh, Shri C.K.Saji
Narayanan, Presdent Bhartiya
Mazdoor Sangh and
Representative of Laghu Udyog
Bharati.
