After inviting domestic and foreign firms to make in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to unveil half a dozen schemes on October 16 that would bring much needed relief to manufacturers from the country’s cumbersome labour laws as well as provide skilled manpower to these factories.
The labour ministry is organising an event titled ‘Shrameva Jayate’ to launch six of its revamped schemes including the universal account number (UAN) for subscribers of the EPFO, on-line compliance system for labour laws, a new labour inspection system, revamped Industrial Training Institutes(ITIs), apprenticeship scheme and health insurance plan for unorganised sector workers.
“The event planned for October 16 is aimed to address the requirements of all — employers as well as workers from the cumbersome labour laws. While we have been working on these schemes for long, they will be formally launched next week,” said a senior labour ministry official.
The event has been titled keeping in mind the Prime Minister’s emphasis on providing empowerment and dignity of labour, said the official, adding that it will be part of the birth celebrations of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.
For employers, the event will unveil a unified web portal to simplify compliance of labour laws where employers can submit a single common return on compliance of 16 Central labour laws. “State labour ministers will also be present at the event and will be invited to provide similar facilities so that all compliance returns can be submitted online providing ease of business,” said the official.
The Prime Minister will also launch a new inspection system that will herald the end of the inspector raj in labour laws, benefitting over 13 lakh units that currently have to file compliance returns and undergo inspections.
Four agencies including the EPFO, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, office of the Chief Labour Commissioner and Director General of Mines Safety will be brought under the new system where in compliance reports filed on the web portal by employers would be analysed by a proposed Central Analysis and Intelligence Unit that would pick up establishments for inspection.
“Each inspector will have to submit his report online within three days, making the process transparent and accountable,” said the official, pointing out that at present 18,000 inspectors are deployed and carry out an annual 2 lakh inspections. “The new facilities of online returns and inspections will make our work also more focused,” he said.
Meanwhile, the labour ministry also plans to showcase its revamped ITIs with up-to-date courses, for which it is keen to coordinate with companies for not only placement of students but also setting up such institutes and tailoring training courses to their needs. “Brand ambassadors for the ITIs will be unveiled and some of the students also felicitated,” said a second official.
With the passage of the amendments to the Apprenticeship Act in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate a new scheme for apprentices that will provide training in trades apart from manufacturing. Further, to make the scheme more attractive, stipends will have to meet the minimum wages in each state. The government will compensate employers by chipping in 50 per cent of the stipend amount, the official said.
For workers, the labour ministry will launch the UAN for members of the EPFO will mean that workers will have permanent account numbers despite changing jobs.
It will also announce a revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana with centralised issuance of smart cards, third party audits and a call centre. “These will make the scheme, which has over 3 crore members from the unorganised sector, more transparent,” said another official.
In the second stage, the scheme will be merged with the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme to provide comprehensive health insurance to unorganised sector workers.
The labour ministry is organising an event titled ‘Shrameva Jayate’ to launch six of its revamped schemes including the universal account number (UAN) for subscribers of the EPFO, on-line compliance system for labour laws, a new labour inspection system, revamped Industrial Training Institutes(ITIs), apprenticeship scheme and health insurance plan for unorganised sector workers.
“The event planned for October 16 is aimed to address the requirements of all — employers as well as workers from the cumbersome labour laws. While we have been working on these schemes for long, they will be formally launched next week,” said a senior labour ministry official.
The event has been titled keeping in mind the Prime Minister’s emphasis on providing empowerment and dignity of labour, said the official, adding that it will be part of the birth celebrations of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.
For employers, the event will unveil a unified web portal to simplify compliance of labour laws where employers can submit a single common return on compliance of 16 Central labour laws. “State labour ministers will also be present at the event and will be invited to provide similar facilities so that all compliance returns can be submitted online providing ease of business,” said the official.
The Prime Minister will also launch a new inspection system that will herald the end of the inspector raj in labour laws, benefitting over 13 lakh units that currently have to file compliance returns and undergo inspections.
Four agencies including the EPFO, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, office of the Chief Labour Commissioner and Director General of Mines Safety will be brought under the new system where in compliance reports filed on the web portal by employers would be analysed by a proposed Central Analysis and Intelligence Unit that would pick up establishments for inspection.
“Each inspector will have to submit his report online within three days, making the process transparent and accountable,” said the official, pointing out that at present 18,000 inspectors are deployed and carry out an annual 2 lakh inspections. “The new facilities of online returns and inspections will make our work also more focused,” he said.
Meanwhile, the labour ministry also plans to showcase its revamped ITIs with up-to-date courses, for which it is keen to coordinate with companies for not only placement of students but also setting up such institutes and tailoring training courses to their needs. “Brand ambassadors for the ITIs will be unveiled and some of the students also felicitated,” said a second official.
With the passage of the amendments to the Apprenticeship Act in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate a new scheme for apprentices that will provide training in trades apart from manufacturing. Further, to make the scheme more attractive, stipends will have to meet the minimum wages in each state. The government will compensate employers by chipping in 50 per cent of the stipend amount, the official said.
For workers, the labour ministry will launch the UAN for members of the EPFO will mean that workers will have permanent account numbers despite changing jobs.
It will also announce a revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana with centralised issuance of smart cards, third party audits and a call centre. “These will make the scheme, which has over 3 crore members from the unorganised sector, more transparent,” said another official.
In the second stage, the scheme will be merged with the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme to provide comprehensive health insurance to unorganised sector workers.
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