Question : Change in Labour Laws

(a)whether the Government proposes to bring about a sea change in the labour laws through amendment keeping in view the interests of labourers/workers and if so, the details thereof;
(b)whether the Government proposes to take stringent steps for early disposal of various problems being faced by labourers/ workers and if so, the details thereof;
(c)whether the Government has developed any portal, Mobile App or worked out any scheme for disposal of their problems and if so, the details thereof; and
(d)the details of concrete steps taken so far or proposed to be taken by the Government to address the labour issues?

MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

(a) & (b): The Ministry has taken steps for drafting four Labour Codes on Wages; Industrial Relations; Social Security; and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions respectively, by simplifying, amalgamating and rationalizing the relevant provisions of the existing Central Labour Laws. The 4 Labour Codes contain provisions relating to wage, social security, safety, health and grievance redressal mechanism for workers.

Contd..2/-
:: 2 ::

(c): Besides, redressal machinery as envisaged in various Labour Acts, the following on-line portal, mobile App, etc address the grievances of workers:-
? CPGRAMS (Centralized Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System) - CPGRAMS is the platform which primarily aims to enable submission of grievances by the aggrieved citizens including of workers from anywhere and anytime (24x7) basis to Ministries/Departments/ Organisations who scrutinize and take action for speedy and favorable redressal of these grievances.
? EPFiGMS (EPF i Grievance Management System) - It is a customised portal with an aim to redress grievances for the services provided by EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation).
? UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) APP - The services of EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) for subscribers have been integrated and offered through UMANG application of Government of India.
? PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) Portal – Online complaints regarding Child labour can be filed by anybody on the PENCIL Portal. The complaint gets assigned to the concerned Nodal Officer automatically by the system for rescual, rehabilitation and mainstreaming of the child labourer.
? Shram Suvidha Portal – It operates a transparent risk based Online Labour Inspection Service for effective enforcement of Labour Laws so as to ensure wage security, job security, social security and various other safety, health and welfare measures.

(d): To address the labour issues, the steps undertaken by Government during the last few years are as follows:-

? Under Payment of Bonus Amendment Act, eligibility limit for payment of bonus enhanced from Rs 10000/- to Rs. 21000/- per month and the Calculation Ceiling from Rs. 3500/- to Rs. 7000/- or the minimum wages.
? Payment of Wages (Amendment) Act, 2017 enabling payment of Wages to employees by Cash or Cheque or crediting it to their bank account.
Contd..3/-
:: 3 ::

? Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 provides for complete ban on employment of children below 14 years in any occupation or process.
? Maternity Benefit Amendment Act, 2017, increases the paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks.
? The Employee Compensation (Amendment) Act, seeks to rationalize penalties and strengthen the rights of the workers under the Act.
? The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Act, 2018, provides flexibility to the Central Government to increase the ceiling limit of gratuity to such amount as may be notified from time to time. The ceiling limit of gratuity has been increased from Rs. 10 Lakh to 20 Lakh vide Notification dated 29th March, 2018.


*******