Achievements of Ministry of Labour & Employment in the year 2010

YEAR-END REVIEW 2010

The Ministry of Labour & Employment has made serious efforts to implement various provisions mandated relating to enhancement of the welfare and well-being of farmers, farm labour and workers particularly those in the unorganized sector, ensuring the fullest implementation of minimum wage laws for farm labour, striving for elimination of child labour, examination of labour laws that create an Inspector Raj and harmonization and streamlining of procedures.

Highlights

·         Amendments have been carried out in 5 Acts namely the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948, the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.  Proposals to amend 10 Acts are at various stages of consideration.

·         The ‘National Policy on Safety, Health and Environment at Workplace’ and the ‘National Policy on HIV / AIDS and the World of Work’ have been announced. The ‘National Employment Policy’ is being formulated.

·         The ‘Report to the People on Employment’ has been placed in the public domain.

·         27 States / Union Territories have taken initiatives to implement the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). About 2.23 crore cards have been issued till 15.12.2010.

·         The coverage under RSBY has been expanded to include construction workers.  Cabinet approval has been obtained to cover street vendors also.

·         The National Floor Level Minimum Wage has been revised from Rs.80/- to Rs.100/- per day w. e. f. 01.11.2009.

·         ‘Pehchan Identity Card’ Scheme for Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) beneficiaries has been launched.

·         The wage ceiling for coverage of employees under the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 has been enhanced from Rs.10,000/- to Rs.15,000/- per month w.e.f. 01.05.2010.

·         The ‘Modernization Project’ is being implemented in the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) with technical assistance of National Informatics Centre (NIC).

·         Employment of children has been prohibited in two more occupations, namely, ‘Circus’ and ‘Caring of Elephants’.

·         About 6.47 lakh children have been mainstreamed under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP).

·         Vocational Training is being provided through a network of 2,178 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 6,464 Industrial Training Centres (ITCs) where about 1.19 million training seats are available.

·         Upgradation of 100 ITIs with domestic resources, 400 ITIs with World Bank assistance and 1,396 ITIs under PPP mode was undertaken.

·         ‘Skill Development Initiative’ (SDI) Scheme for training school drop-outs and existing workers especially in the informal sector under Modular Employable Skills (MES) framework was implemented.

·         Kaushal Vikas Yojana to set up new  1,500 ITIs and 5,000 Skill Development Centres, Skill Development Plan for Youth , supplementing infrastructure deficiencies in  ITIs in NE states and Sikkim and modernization of all 969 Employment Exchanges in the country under e-governance plan are being taken up.

·         ILO Convention No. 127 concerning Maximum Weight for manual transport has been ratified.

·         Labour Bureau has conducted eight quarterly quick employment surveys to assess the impact of economic slowdown on employment.

·         Labour Bureau has conducted the Annual Survey of Employment & Un-employment for the reference period 2009-10.

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