Government to bring vital labour reforms
The government plans to move aggressively on labour reforms - a muchneglected area and which is said to be an investment inhibiter - to bring equity in wages across sectors and take into account the fact that over 90% of the workforce is in the unorganised or informal sector.
Labour reforms have the potential to revive the stalled manufacturing sector which can generate employment. The sector has remained stagnant, and is a leading contributor to the massive jobs crisis confronting the government.
The proposed Bill includes important provisions, including that while the state government concerned will fix and revise minimum wages, the central government could, by notification, fix the ‘floor’ wage, which may be different for different geographical areas.
The Code of Wages Bill, 2019, proposed by the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment rationalises various sections of central labour laws pertaining to service conditions like the Minimum Wages Act of 1948, the Payment of Bonus Act of 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act of 1976.
The new legislation tries to meet the demands of employers who had asked the government to rationalise labour laws and those of the labour unions and aims to extend the provision of minimum wages to all workers, regardless of sector of employment. The government is all set to pare existing 44 labour laws into four and a Bill will be tabled in Parliament in the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha beginning June 17. The minister said out of the 44 laws, seven are redundant.
"The 44 labour laws existing right now would be put in four categories. The Labour Ministry will bring a Bill in Parliament in the coming session," Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said.
The decision has been taken at an interministerial meeting chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah and attended by Gangwar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan.
The minister said that all major labour unions in the country were consulted by the government before a decision was taken to bring new labour laws.
The Modi government's move to bring
new labour legislation is aimed at helping investors and expedite growth by merging the 44 existing laws into four categories that reportedly include wages, social security, industrial safety and welfare, and industrial relations, said officials.