Following is
the text of the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s address at the 45th session
of the Indian Labour Conference in New Delhi:
“Let me begin by emphasizing that this is a very important conference that
deliberates issues of critical importance to our workers and industry, and
therefore to our economy and society at large. I feel happy that as Prime
Minister I have participated in all Sessions of the Indian Labour Conference
that have taken place since 2005, except the one in 2009 which I could not
attend due to ill-health. As you begin proceedings in this 45th Session of the
Conference, I compliment you on your past achievements and extend my best wishes
for your efforts in the future. It is also my hope that this Session will build
further upon the rich legacy of the earlier Sessions.
Before
I proceed further, let me also state that our Government has paid very serious
attention to the issues that Trade Unions have raised from time to time. The
recent two-day strike by Trade Unions focused on a number of issues relating to
the welfare not only of the working-classes but also the people at large. These
include demands on which there can be no disagreement. For example, demands for
concrete measures for containing inflation, for generation of employment
opportunities, for strict implementation of labour laws, are unexceptionable.
There can however be differences on the best ways of fulfilling these demands
and we are willing to engage constructively with the Trade Unions in this
regard.
Some other demands raised by the Trade Unions are already under an advanced
stage of consideration by the Government. These include issues 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.
The third set of demands relates to issues on which further dialogue with Trade
Union leaders appears necessary, including tripartite discussions. We have set
up a Group of Ministers under the Finance Minister to go into the whole gamut of
demands raised by the Trade Unions and I am confident that soon you will see
some forward movement on these demands.
I
believe that many of the demands of the Trade Unions reflect the concern that
our growth and progress should be inclusive and should particularly benefit the
under-privileged sections of our society. This is a concern that has been very
dear to our Government. We believe that providing our people with productive
employment opportunities is the best way of achieving this
objective.
According to some available data, we created 20 million additional job
opportunities during the period 2004-05 and 2009-10. The unemployment rate came
down from 8.3% to 6.6% during the same period. This period suffered from one of
the worst global meltdowns in history and most of the countries, developed and
developing, have registered increases in their unemployment rates while we were
still able to create additional jobs. 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.
Our
Government has also made serious efforts in implementing various employment
generation programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (MGNREGA), National Rural Livelihood Mission, Swarnajayanti Shahari Rozgar
Yojna and Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme. There has been an
increase in allocations of these schemes over the years which have provided
employment opportunities to a large number of men and women, particularly
persons belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward
Classes. MGNREGA has been particularly helpful in reducing inter-State migration
of labour, eliminating bonded labour and raising the purchasing power of the
rural households. Women participation under the scheme has been more than 48%.
It is also heartening to note that rural women are increasingly going for
self-employment opportunities in ever increasing numbers. Out of a total of
44.32 lakh Self-Help Groups in our country, 30.21 lakh are exclusively for women
which accounts for more than 68%. We propose to continue this effort in future
as well.
Clearly, skill development is crucial to our efforts for providing decent
employment opportunities to our large and growing young population. A skilled
workforce is also a pre-requisite for the achievement of our objective of rapid
and inclusive growth. Therefore, we have laid special emphasis on skill
development.
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. During the last five years, the number of Industrial Training
Institutes (ITIs) in the country has doubled from about 5000 to about 10000.
About 1700 Government ITIs have been modernized. Another 3000 ITIs, 5000 Skill
Development Centres and 27 Advanced Training Institutes are proposed to be set
up during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17). The Modular Employable Skills (MES)
programme of the Ministry of Labour & Employment provides short duration
courses to prospective trainees using both Government and private
infrastructure. It is an attempt towards increasing employment in the
unorganized sector at a rapid pace.
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.
This calls for setting up of national standards for skill formation benchmarked
to global standards, development of appropriate curriculum design for specific
skills and formation of new assessment and certifying bodies besides
strengthening the existing ones.
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.
I
have no doubt that with active participation of the industry, the Trade Unions
and the Government, we will be able to achieve more effective outcomes in
improving the employability of our youth and thus pave the way for generating
decent employment opportunities for them commensurate with their rising
aspirations. This is the task to which I commit our country.
Ever since the UPA Government came to power in 2004, we have endeavoured to work
for the welfare of workers. When I look back at what I had said when I addressed
the 40th Session of this Conference in 2005, I feel a sense of satisfaction that
we have delivered substantially on the promises we had made at that time. I had
at that time spoken about the need for a new deal to the working people, the
need for ensuring the welfare and well being of all workers, particularly those
in the unorganized sector, and the legislation that was under consideration in
this regard. I am happy that we have achieved good results in these areas,
though I would be the first one to recognize that there is much that still needs
to be done.
We launched the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in 2008 to provide for
smart card based hospitalization facilities for workers in the unorganized
sector. We have been expanding the reach of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana
(RSBY) to cover larger numbers of workers in the informal sector. Under this
scheme, 3.41 crore smart cards have been issued so far. The RSBY now covers
additional categories of workers including construction workers, street vendors,
domestic workers and even beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Programme.
Our Government enacted the
Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008 for the benefit of the workers in
the informal sector.
We
have increased the eligibility limit under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 from
Rs 3500 per month to Rs 10000 per month. The medical bonus payable under the
Maternity Benefit Act of 1961 has also been enhanced. We have also enhanced the
period of unemployment allowance to retrenched workers from 6 months to 1 year
under the Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana.
The
National Policy on Safety, Health and Environment and the National Policy on HIV
and AIDS in the World of Work were put in place in the year 2009.
We have taken proactive steps for elimination of child labour. 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. I am happy that 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. We now need to ensure that this is brought down
further.
A
number of Bills have been introduced 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. Besides,
a number of amendments in labour laws are at various stages of
consideration.
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. Twenty seven ESIC hospitals are being modernized and four have already
been upgraded. Five new ESIC hospitals were commissioned in 2011-12. Insured
persons are now being issued Smart Cards and super specialty treatment
facilities have been extended to them. The ESIC organization has undertaken a
massive computerization project for more effective delivery of benefits to the
insured persons.
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).
There are certain vulnerable groups of workers that need our special attention.
I would urge this Conference 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. We need to bring in the best international practices for bringing
about improvements in their working conditions.
The Government of India, Industry, Trade Unions and State Governments need to
work in partnership to strengthen our society, our economy and our country. I
would like to take today`s opportunity to reaffirm our Government`s firm
commitment to building such a partnership. We are all aware that our economy is
going through difficult circumstances and our growth is not what we would like
it to be. Even as the Government works for reversing this situation and I am
confident, we can do so and we will do it, we need the cooperation of both
Captains of Industry and our Trade Unions. In the recent months we have taken a
number of steps 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. I would urge you all Captains of Industry
and Trade Union leaders to help us in making a success of these efforts. I wish
your deliberations all success.”