15,705
Houses Sanctioned this Year for Unorganized Workers
NCS Project Brings 3.92 Crore Job Seekers and 14.86 Lakh Employers on a Single
Platform
25 NCS Centres set up For SC/ST to Provide Vocational Guidance
Year in review 2017The Ministry of
Labour and Employment is committed towards job security, wage security and
social security for each and every worker. Along with bringing transparency and
accountability in enforcement of Labour Laws, the Ministry has taken important
initiatives to realize and establish the dignity of every worker through
provision of social security, enhancing the avenues and quality of employment.
The Government of
India is working on a comprehensive strategy to bring employment to the core of
development strategy, promoting industrial activity through Make in India,
enhancing employability through Skill India and encouraging innovation and
entrepreneurship through Start up India.
I. Major
Achievements in Labour Welfare:
1. Maternity
Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017
The
Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 has come into force form April 01, 2017
to increase paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. It also has
mandatory provision for crèche in respect of establishments having 50 or more
workers and enabling provision for work from home. For the first time, a
provision for 12 weeks paid maternity leave has been made for both
Commissioning and Adopting mothers. The act has approximately benefited 18 Lakh
women employees.
2. Child Labour
(Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2017
i.
The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016, has been
enacted with effect from 01.09.2016. The amendment provides for complete ban on
the employment of a child below 14 years and prohibition on employment of
adolescent (14-18) in hazardous occupation & profession, as notified in
Schedule of Hazardous occupation & profession dated 30.08.2017.
Following the amendment, Ministry of Labour & Employment has framed the
Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2017 and notified in
the Gazette of India on 02.06.2017. Further, India has now ratified two Core
ILO conventions 138 and 182 on child labour.
ii. For
effective implementation of the provisions of the amended Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, Ministry has prepared Standard
Operating Procedure (SOP) to facilitate enforcement of the amended act so that
the goal of child labour free India could be realised.
iii. PENCIL:
An online portal was launched on 26.09.2017 for better monitoring
& reporting system to ensure effective implementation of the
provisions of the amended Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986
and National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme. As on date District
Nodal Officers from 431 districts out of 710 districts of the country have
registered on the portal. Further all operational Project Societies of NCLP are
registered on the portal for better implementation of NCLP scheme aimed at
educational rehabilitation of child and adolescent labour.
3. Welfare of
Unorganised Workers
i.
Housing Subsidy to Beedi, Cine and Non-Coal Mine Workers has been increased
from Rs. 40,000/- to
Rs. 1,50,000. This year 15,705
Houses have been sanctioned at an expenditure of Rs. 25.5 crore .
ii. Implementation
of Revamped Bonded Labour rehabilitation Scheme: As on December 15, 2017 an
amount of Rs. 664.50 Lakhs has been released for the
rehabilitation of 6413 bonded labourers. Additionally, an amount of Rs. 107.25
Lakhs has been released in 2017-18 for the purpose of conducting Survey,
Awareness Generation and Evaluation Studies.
4. Minimum
Wages Revision:
There has been an simultaneous increase of
about 40% in the minimum wages for all sectors; agricultural, non-Agricultural,
Construction etc. in Central Sphere. Minimum wage (per day) for
non-agricultural worker in the ‘C’ area category increased form Rs. 250/- to Rs
350/-, Rs 437/- in ‘B’ area category and Rs. 523/- in ‘A’ area category.
Notification to this effect was issued on 27.02.2017(corrigendum).
5. The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Act 2017: The Act now in force enables the employers to pay the
wages to their employees in cash or by Cheque or by crediting the wages in the
bank account of the employee with provision that the appropriate Government
may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify that an industrial or
other establishment shall pay the wages only by Cheque or by crediting the
wages in his bank account. Notification to this effect in respect of Railways,
air transport services, mines and oil field sectors covered under central
sphere has been issued on 25th April 2017. This will help in transition towards
formalisation of Labour force.
6. Payment of Wages Act, 1936: In exercise of the power conferred by sub-section (6) of
Section 1 of the Act, the Central Government has enhanced the wage ceiling from
Rs.18,000/- to Rs.24,000/- per month vide Gazette Notification dated 29th
August,2017.
7. Opening of Bank Accounts: Ministry of Labour &
Employment undertook a massive drive between November, 2016 to April, 2017 for
opening bank accounts of the workers for ensuring cashless transactions of
wages. 1,50,803 Camps were organized across the country where 49,66,489 bank
accounts were opened for the workers to enable cashless transaction of wages.
II. Major Steps
Taken by EPFO:
i. Employees Enrolment Campaign(EEC) of EPFO: EEC was launched by the Government in January,2017
to enroll left out employees and provide incentives to employers in the form of
waiver of administrative charges, nominal damages @ Rupee 1/- annum and waiver
of employees share if not deducted. In this drive, close to 1.01 crore
additional employees have been enrolled with EPFO between January, 2017 to
June, 2017.
ii. Universal Account Number (UAN) as on 12.12.2017, allotted to organized sector workers
making their EPF Accounts portable, benefiting 12,26,13,675 Workers and Aadhar Seeding completed for 2,56,59,988 UAN
Subscribers. Access to online
and mobile services (through UMANG app) is also made available.
iii. A housing Scheme has been
notified by EPFO on 12th April 2017 to allow withdrawal of
provident fund by members for
housing needs.
iv. Multiple Banking System: Instead
of only one bank i.e. SBI, the establishments have the option of making
directed payments through 13 banks now. They are SBI, Allahabad Bank, Indian
Bank, PNB, UBI, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak
Mahindra Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank.
v. Online Claim
Receipt & other Services
a.
Employers can pay
their contributions online without any hassle; amount is credited
to members’ accounts within 04
days.
b.
Online facility
launched for change in name, DOB, gender etc.
c.
Digital Jeevan
Praman Patra introduced for convenience of Pensioners
d.
Online Filing of
Returns of Exempted Establishments
e.
Online Processing of
cases through E-Court Management System
vi. Centralized
Services: All
120 EPFO offices have migrated to the consolidated database at the National
Data Centre for seamless interface across the country.
vii. International
Workers:
1.
Bilateral social security agreement (SSA) made with 19 countries to protect the
interests of Indian
professionals, skilled workers abroad; EPFO is the nodal implementing agency.
2.
Online services for
generation of certificate of coverage have been introduced.
3.
Claims of International workers under are being settled on the last day of work
in
India.
4.
In 2017, administrative arrangements of India Brazil negotiations were
finalized.
III. Major Steps
Taken by ESIC
i. Increased workforce
under Social Security net:-
a. As on 31.03.2017, the number of Insured Persons covered
under the ESI Scheme has increased to 3.19 crores and the number of
beneficiaries covered under Scheme has also gone up to 12.40 crores.
b. The wage ceiling for coverage of employees under the ESI
Act has been enhanced from Rs.15,000/- to Rs.21,000/- w.e.f. 1st
January, 2017.
ii. Extending the Coverage:-
a. As on 30.11.2017 ESI Scheme stands implemented fully in
325 Districts, partially in 85 Districts and in 93 District Hqrs.
b. 1,14,352 additional factories/establishments were brought
under the purview of the scheme. As on 31.03.2017, the total number of
factories/establishments covered had gone up to 8,98,138 as against 7,83,786
units at the end of March, 2016.
c. To extend the coverage to the entire workforce, ESI
Corporation launched a new Employer friendly Scheme named ‘Scheme for
Promoting Registration of Employers and Employees (SPREE)’. Under this
scheme, a total of 1,02,013 Employers and 1,30,78,766 Employees have been
covered under ESI Scheme upto 30.06.2017.
iii. Empowerment to IPs &
Employers’:-
a. E-biz platform:- ESIC was the first organization of Central
government, to integrate its services (Registration of Employers through e-biz
portal of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) to promote ease
of business and curb transaction costs.
b. E-Penchan:- A process of establishing the identity of the insured
person through his Adhaar number has been set up by seeding his Adhaar number
to his insurance number. This has simplified the identification process of the
insured person and his/her dependents at various point of contact during all
type of benefit disbursement. The process has enabled us to do away with the
cumbersome process of making our Insured persons and their dependents to visit
our offices to get their Biometrics taken for issuance of a Pehchan card.
IV. The Code on Wages Bill 2017:
It rationalizes,
amalgamates and simplifies the relevant provisions of the following four labour
laws:
The Minimum Wages Act,
1948
The Payment of Wages
Act, 1936
The Payment of Bonus
Act, 1965, &
The Equal
Remuneration Act, 1976
The Draft Code on Wages Bill 2017 has been introduced in
the Lok Sabha on 10.08.2017
V. Shram suvidha portal:
i.
Unified Registration form for EPFO and ESIC has been made operational.
ii.
Unified Returns (ECR) of EPFO and ESIC has been made operational.
iii.
Total Establishments which have been allotted LIN as on 12.12.2017 is
22,92,586.
iv.
More than 16,000 Annual Single Returns for 9 Labour Laws have been filed.
VI. MAJOR STEPS TO
FACILITATE EMPLOYMENT GENERATION:
i. National Career
Service (NCS): National
Career Service Project brings employers, trainers and unemployed on single platform.
3.92 crore job seekers, 14.86 lakh employers have been registered and
mobilization of over 7.73 lakh vacancies through the portal as on 31.10.2017. NCS has partnered with Department of Posts to extend
registration of job seekers through the Post Offices. To enhance the reach and
enrich the employment opportunities available to youth, 22 strategic MOUs have
been signed with leading job portals, placement organizations and institutions
of repute. Government of India has recently made it mandatory for government
vacancies to be posted on the NCS Portal.
ii.
25 National Career Service Centres for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(NCSC SC/STs) have been set up for providing vocational guidance and
counselling services and also training in computer courses. During 2017-18,
around 1,11,146 SC/ST candidates were provided vocational guidance and
counselling, 8,109 candidates pursued secretarial practices (shorthand/typing)
for enhancing employability, 1,300 candidates pursed the special coaching
scheme course and 3,000 candidates pursued the computer courses till November,
2017. The 25 (NCSC SC/STs) have been integrated with the NCS Project.
iii. 21 National
Career Service Centres for Differently Abled (NCSCDA) have been set up for
Handicapped to provide vocational training, vocational guidance and career
counselling to assist persons with disabilities in the process of economic
rehabilitation. During 2017-18, around 35,415 persons with disabilities were
assessed/evaluated and guided for employability skills and around 6,440 were
rehabilitate with various organisations.
iv. Model Career
Centers: The Government has approved establishment of
100 Model Career Centers under NCS project to deliver quality employment
services and these centres are being set up in collaboration with States and
Institutions. The
NCS Project has also been enhanced to interlink the employment exchanges with
the NCS Portal. The Capacity Building programmes for
762 Employment Officers have been organised.
v. Job Fairs: 725
job fairs were organized till November 30, 2017.
vi. Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY): Government
of India is implementing the Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojanaa (PMRPY) to
incentivize employers for new employment.The scheme launched on 9th August
2016provides that Government of India will pay the Employees Pension
Scheme (EPS) contribution of 8.33% for all new employees enrolling in EPFO for
the first 03 years of their employment. The scheme is applicable to those having
earnings Rs. 15,000/- per month. A budget provision of Rs. 1000/- crore for
this scheme has been made. For the textile (garmenting) sector, Government of
India is paying the complete 12% employers’ contribution (8.33% EPS +3.67% EPF)
for these new employees till November 2017. 21,841 establishments had
registered under PMRPY scheme and EPS contribution was reimbursed for 13,74,626
beneficiaries. An expenditure of about Rs.178 crore has been made on the scheme
till date.