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INDIA - MAJOR SOCIAL BENEFITS
LEGISLATION PASSED FOR INFORMAL, UNORGANISED SECTOR WOMEN WORKERS, FARM
WORKERS, MIGRANT WORKERS +
India - Unorganised Workers’ Social Security
Bill, 2008 Passed
Special
Correspondent
|
It
will cover 34 crore workers in the next five years |
Farm workers and migrant labourers will also be covered
94% workers in unorganised sector will benefit
NEW DELHI: Parliament on Wednesday passed the ambitious Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Bill, 2008 that seeks to provide welfare measures for the unorganised worker. The Bill has already been passed in the Rajya Sabha.
The Lok Sabha passed the Bill, being described as the first major step in 60 years to remove the difficulties of the poor, after several amendments moved by the members of the Left parties were defeated.
Winding up the debate on the Bill, Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes said it was a millennium scheme that would cover 34 crore workers in the next five years. Agricultural workers and migrant labourers will also be covered under the Act.
He said 94 per cent of the working class in the country employed in the unorganised sector would get the benefit of health, life and disability insurance, old age pension and group accident scheme. Mr. Fernandes said the government had already started implementing some of the schemes such as health insurance and old age pension scheme for those below the poverty line while appealing to the States to cooperate in the successful implementation of the scheme.
The Minister said the government was extremely concerned about the problems of the poor and hence had introduced the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Scheme that gave a minimum of 100 days of employment to those in the unorganised sector, thereby raising the income of the workers from Rs. 20 to the equivalent of $2 a day. This is a revolutionary measure, he said.
The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in September 2007 and subsequently referred to the Standing Committee. It was passed in the Rajya Sabha in October this year.
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