House panel may seek changes in labour code

NEWDELHI: A parliamentary panel may seek key changes in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code after it was flooded with demands by various organisations and trade bodies to be more flexible over rules for small and medium enterprises and to allow them to work longer hours, and have shared facilities such as crèches .

The parliamentary committee on labour is reviewing the OSH code, one of the four codes aimed at overhauling India’s archaic labour sector laws to make them more industry- and workerfriendly. Out of the four codes, the wage code has already been cleared by Parliament. Another,

OSH Code has prescribed holidays and working hours for employer. According to prevailing laws, up to eight hours of work is allowed OSH Code puts onus on employers to provide crèche and other facilities for women who work night shifts

OSH Code is applicable only for establishments with 10 or more workers, excluding workers in micro, family-run establishments

the code on industrial relations, has been cleared by the Union cabinet.

The OSH code has prescribed

House panel: Govermment can extend working hours in some sectors such as textiles and IT

House panel: Provisions are capital-intensive and place a burden on people who run small and medium sector enterprises House panel: Government should devise mechanism to ensure safety and good health of such workers

that “holidays and working hours or any other condition to be observed by the employer may be

As the moon slowly masked the sun to leave a burning ‘ring of fire’, in what was the last solar eclipse of the decade, thousands of people across India gathered on rooftops, beaches and other open spaces as well as planetariums to watch the astronomical phenomenon. But overcast skies and fog played spoilsport in many parts of North India. The eclipse as seen from Dindigul in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. >> P4, 10 AFP