Provisions made for Welfare and to Protect Interest of Labourers-Union Minister Shri Dattatreya

Bhopal :  Several provisions have been made for welfare and to protect interest of the labourers by the Union Government. Union Minister of State for Labour (Independent Charge)  Bandaru Dattatreya said this at the inaugural session of convention of Labour Ministers and Secretaries of North and Central states here today.
 
 Dattatreya said that the Madhya Pradesh government has undertaken several schemes for the welfare of the labourers. He further mentioned that works carried out by the Chief Minister  Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the welfare and progress of the labourers are praiseworthy.
 
 Dattatreya said that the concrete steps have been taken by the government in the country regarding remuneration, health and children’s education of labourers of unorganised sector. There are around 40 crore labourers in unorganised sector in the country. The government is committed for bonus to the labourers. Mentioning about the welfare schemes,  Dattatreya said that increase has been made in the maternity benefits provided to the women. Provision is being made to provide 26 weeks maternity benefit to the women labourers in place of 12 week maternity benefit. He further said that the government has put a total prohibition on child labour. Child labourers under 16 years of age have totally banned.
 
State’s Minister of Labour  Dhurve said that the state government has brought reforms in the labour laws. Besides safeguarding interest of the labourers by these reforms, the workshops and industry employers got rid from the unnecessary formalities. He said that it is the relt of the reforms made during last years that the state has been selected under the “Ease of Doing Business’ among the five leading states of the country. The Self-Certification Scheme of the Labour Department was praised by the World Bank. This has been included in the report as ‘Good Practice’.
 
 Dhurve further mentioned that necessary amendments have been made in 3 labour laws of the state and 15 union labour laws. License and registration process has been made completely online through the web portal of the Labour Department. Provision has been made for only two returns and one register in place of several registers maintained under the labour laws. Limit of labourer numbers has been increased from 100 to 300 in several permissions like close down, lay off etc. under the Industrial Dispute Act. Also retirement age of labourers has been increased from 58 to 60 years. Moreover concrete steps have been taken for the welfare of the labourers in unorganised sector. A total of 25 lakh labourers of the state have been registered in Madhya Pradesh Bhavan and Sannirman Karmkar Kalyan Mandal. Benefit worth Rs. 687 crore has been distributed under more than 20 schemes to over 32 lakh 50 thousand families. Benefit to construction labourers is being distributed online. At the initiative of the Chief Minister  Shivraj Singh Chouhan, works of Awasiya Shramoday Vidhyalayas at Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior and Jabalpur beside Labourers I.T.I. at Bhopal is near completion.  Dhurve further mentioned that the services of labour department have been brought under the purview of Guarantee Act.
 
Haryana’s State Minister of State for Labour  Nayab Singh Saini informed about the activities of labour department of Haryana state. Labour Secretary of Union Government . M. Satyawati threw light on the aims of the convention. A.C.S. Labour  B.R. Naidu, Joint Secretary Labour Government of India  Manish Gupta and Officers of Haryana, Himachal, Jammu-Kashmir, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Uttarakhand were present in the convention. One day convention of nine states of north and central India was organised by Labour Ministry Government of India at Bhopal for deliberations on reforms in Labour laws. -WTN