Push for wage code in monsoon session

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar on Wednesday said the Wage Code Bill 2017 would be pushed for passage while the Labour Code on Social Security Bill 2018 would be tabled for consideration in the monsoon session of Parliament.

“The Standing Committee on Labour has finalised its report on the Code on Wages. We would push the bill for passage in the next session,” Gangwar told reporters at a FICCI event.

He also said the ministry had circulated the Code on Social Security for comments on its portal and it would be its endeavour to table the bill in forthcoming session of Parliament.

The Wage Code will enable the Centre to set benchmark minimum wages for different regions across the country. The bill's provision provides that states cannot set minimum wages below the benchmark set by the Centre.

The draft code on the bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2017. Thereafter, it was referred to the committee for scrutiny which is expected to submit its report in the Monsoon session.

The bill also seeks to combine Payment of Wages Act,

THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON LABOUR HAS FINALISED ITS REPORT ON THE CODE ON WAGES. WE WOULD PUSH THE BILL FOR PASSAGE IN THE NEXT SESSION” SANTOSH GANGWAR, Labour Minister

1936, the Minimum Wages Act, 1949, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, into one code.

The draft Labour Code on Social Security 2018 provides concept of community service order to reform offenders and linking pecuniary penalty with inflation. At present, violation under social security laws attracts either fines, imprisonment or a combination of both.

Once the code is implemented, the government will not have to approach Parliament for increasing fines under the social security legislation.

The draft code would subsume 15 social security laws including Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008; Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948; Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952; Maternity Benefit Act, 1961; Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 and Building and Other Construction Workers Cess Act, 1996, among others.

Speaking on the occasion, Dagmar Waltar, Director International Labour Organisation (ILO), Decent Work Team for South Asia and Country office for India, said that globally 24 million jobs will be created by 2030, according to an ILO report.

She said that the employment projections in this report suggest that the net effect on job numbers will be positive.

In India, she said the transition to a green economy will inevitably cause job losses in certain sectors as carbon- and resource-intensive industries are scaled down, but these will be more than offset by new job opportunities.

Measures taken in the production and use of energy, for example, will lead to job losses of around 259,000 jobs, as well as in the creation of around 3.0 million jobs.

The net increase of approximately 2.8 million jobs will be the result of the adoption of sustainable practices, including changes in the energy mix, the projected growth in the use of electric vehicles, and increases in energy efficiency in existing and future buildings, she added.

Regarding the sectoral impact with 1.5 million jobs created in the renewables. This overall net jobs benefit comes with sectoral differences, in the case of India, all the sectors except the mining industry will experience an increase in employment.

For example, 1.5 million jobs are expected to be created in the renewables sector, 466,200 jobs will be created in the construction and 285,200 new jobs are expected in the services, she said.