As the BJP-led NDA government gears up to firm up the road map for implementing the four labour codes, labour secretary Sumita Dawra will chair a meeting of labour secretaries and labour commissioners of all states on June 20 to take stock of the state rules and suggest changes if they do not meet the benchmark of model rules framed by the Centre.
The meeting is aimed at pushing through the codes at the state level to ensure readiness among states before their nationwide rollout, a senior government official told ET. The Centre wants to ensure there is no divergence in rules among states and the central rules, and that all of them are in sync with the central rules. This will ensure uniformity and help in smooth implementation of the codes, the official said, requesting anonymity.
Labour reforms, which were put on hold to avoid any backlash before the general elections, are part of the 100-day agenda of the government as they are pending since 2020 and are being seen as a prerequisite to enhance ease of doing business and to attract investments into the country.
In order to improve the ease of doing business and move towards universal social security, the government had consolidated 29 central labour laws into four labour codes. These are the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations (IR) Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security (SS Code), 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH&WC) Code, 2020.110948345At least 22 states and union territories have framed rules across all four codes while six of them have made rules across three codes.
However, eight states-Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and NCT of Delhi-have not so far pre published draft rules under one or more labour codes. Besides, the upcoming meeting will also see the Centre and states deliberate on the cess collected by states under the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Act, 1996 to firm up a roadmap for better utilisation of this for the welfare of the unorganised sector workers.
As per the government estimates, over 50 million building and construction workers are registered by the state welfare boards across India. The cess collected under the scheme, at the rate of 1% of the construction cost, stands at over Rs 75,000 crore. Of this, more than 50% has been spent on welfare of the construction workers, with a huge chunk of it spent during the pandemic.”,
Page Source : Economic Times
