-Kalyan Singh Kothari
Jaipur,Heralding a new era of industrial growth, labour
welfare and employment generation, the Rajasthan Government has embarked on a
series of labour reforms which have not only set an example before other
states, but have also won an all-round applause from labour experts and
captains of industry, who have called for these steps to be replicated in other
parts of the country. As in other spheres of governance, the stellar
performance of the State Government has been visible in the field of labour
welfare through a number of steps taken during the last one year. The massive mandate with which the State
Government was elected last year has enabled the Chief Minister, Mrs.
Vasundhara Raje, to address the concerns in the labour sector and bring about
the State-level amendments to three critical Central Government legislations,
while seeking to liberate the industries and corporate sector from the shackles
of stringent requirements of laws.
These amendments were passed through Bills
tabled in the State Assembly on July 31, 2013, and have now taken the shape of
Acts after receiving the Presidential assent. Ever since the State Government
took over in December last year, it was clear that the policy-level changes
required political will. While all stakeholders were craving for an overhaul of
labour laws for several decades, the achievements of this Government are set to
make a paradigm shift in the labour scenario.
The Labour Department in Rajasthan, established
in 1950, is responsible for maintenance of indusrial peace, enforcement of as
many as 18 labour laws, ensuring minimum wages to workers, settlement of
industrial disputes and complaints, publication of awards and judgments passed by the Labour
Courts and providing compensation in cases of fatal and non-fatal accidents on
the job.
The other tasks of the department include
settlement of claim cases under the Payment of Wages Act and payment of
gratuity, registration of trade unions, certification of standing orders with regard to conditions of
services for the workers, regulation and abolition of contract labour system,
registration of shops and commercial establishments, ensuring equal
remuneration to female workers, identification, release and rehabilitation of
child labourers, abolition of bonded labour system, welfare of unorganised
labourers and compilation of the labour statistics.
An industrial housing scheme is operative in
eight cities of the State to provide residential houses to workers and
labourers on low rent. These cities are Jaipur, Kota, Udaipur, Bhilwara, Pali,
Sriganganagar, Sawai Madhopur and Beawar. The State Government had also decided
to give ownership of houses to the workers living in them and these targets
have been met to a significant extent.
Since the Vasundhara Raje Government took over
in the State, a new Labour Department Management System, involving
computerisation of all citizen-oriented activities and departmental works, has
been prepared through the Department of Information Technology for all district
offices. The project will shortly go live.
The Building and Other Construction Workers'
Welfare Board registered a total of 1,04,174 construction workers as
stakeholders during the period from December 2013 to October 2014, while the
benefit of various schemes was extended to 24,890 stakeholders. An amount of
Rs. 285.35 crores was collected as cess under the Building and Other
Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996.
As many as 1,648 members of the Vishwakarma
Pension Scheme were connected with the Central Government's National Pension
System (NPS) during the period. Under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947,
1,188 complaints, 679 disputes and 644 reports of unsuccessful concilitation
proceedings in connection with discharge from service, service conditions,
etc., were disposed of.
A total of 107 cases of sanction for litigation
and unfair labour practices under the Indusrial Disputes Act, 1947, were
disposed of during the period. Besides, the Labour Courts and Industrial
Tribunals functioning in different cities of the State provided relief to
workers by deciding 1,520 cases.
Orders for payment of compensation worth Rs.
27.99 crores in cases of labourers being rendered disabled as a result of
accidents on the job and claims of dependent family members in cases of death
were issued following the disposal of 1,215 such matters. Besides, 16 of the
applications received for dues to labourers under the Industrial Disputes Act,
1947, were disposed of.
Awards for Rs. 1.24 crores in 324 cases of
payment of wages to labourers were passed during the period, while awards for
Rs. 33.66 lakhs in 111 matters of payments less than the minimum wages were
passed. Besides, orders were passed for payment of Rs. 36.73 lakhs in 62 cases
of gratuity of workmen.
As regards the Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, 1986, and the National Child Labour Policy, 1987, the State is having 29 National Child Labour Projects
(NCLP), of which six were sanctioned in the recent past
and are in the process of establishing. Four districts -- Barmer, Sirohi, Rajsamand
and Pratapgarh -- are such where the projects are yet to be
started. A total of 14,234 child labourres have been mainstreamed so far through NCLPs
in Rajasthan.
The State Government has received the
President's assent for the amendments in the labour laws governing the
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, Contract Labour Act, 1970, and the Factories
Act, 1948. The amendments to the Apprenticeship Act, 1961, are still in the
process. The crucial changes in the labour laws will trigger similar effort in
other States as well as the Centre and help the government to attract
investors.
Under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the
companies earlier needed prior Government
approval if they wanted to retrench more than 100 workers. That bar has now
been raised to 300 workers. Similar limits that govern the applicability of the
Factories Act and the Contract Labour Act have been raised.
Other changes affect the way the employees are
able to deal with the firms. The amendments will introduce a three-year time limit
for any dispute. Crucially, it also impacts the workers’ ability to
collectivise, requiring that anyone attempting to register a representative
union has to show the support of 30 per cent of the workforce, up from just 15
per cent.
In the Industrial Disputes Act, prior permission
is now only needed when retrenching 300 employees or more, up from 100, a three
year time limit has been set for raising disputes as against the absence of any
such time-frame at present, and the recognised trade unions need support of 30 per cent of the
workforce. There will now be the provision for three months' notice and three
months' compensation wages for workers, against the previous provisions for one
month's notice and 15 days' compensation wages.
After the amendment, the Factories Act is now
only applicable to firms with 40 or more employees doing electrified work, up
from 20 earlier. In the non-electrified work, the number will be 20 or more
employees, up from 10 earlier.
Similarly, the Contract Labour Act will now be
applicable to the firms with 50 or more employees, up from 20 earlier. The
State Government is clear in its vision that it expects these changes to add
flexibility for employers in Rajasthan's job market just in time for an
expected boom in infrastructure and manufacturing. With the Central Government
planning to push forward on everything from a Golden Quadrilateral to the
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and a Freight Corridor, Rajasthan is expecting
a huge volume of business to come its way.
These far-reaching changes may not be limited to
the desert State alone. The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has
signalled its intentions to amend a number of Central laws, while
representatives of the corporate world have been pushing for the Centre to
follow Rajasthan's lead. The Ministry has invited comments on the proposed
amendments to the Factories Act, the Minimum Wages Act and the law that governs
child labour. Though the proposed amendments do not include measures that will
be tested in Rajasthan, there have been indications that they are looking to
see what happens in the State. Commentators and captains of industry,
meanwhile, have been calling for the reforms to be replicated in other parts of
the country.
The State Government was feeling that the lower
limit of workers set in the Contract Labour Act had encouraged non-compliance and restricted the engagement of
required labour as per demand. In order to provide more opportunity of
employment and to facilitate employers of tiny and small units and petty
contractors, it has brought the amendment to enhance the threshold limit from
20 to 50 workmen. In case of the Factories Act, the small units were also
covered under the definition of “factory” because of the existing limit. Due to
increase in manufacturing activities by small units in the State, the existing
threshold limit of 10 and 20 was amended by 20 and 40 respectively, so that
establishing of small manufacturing units could be promoted, resulting in the
creation of more employment opportunities for workers.
While welcoming the amendments in key labour
laws as bold and positive measures, the All India Organisation of Employers has
said that it would promote employment generation in the State. Introducing the
system of strike notice and strike ballot, which is in vogue in all the
developed economies, will curb the number of unwanted and unjustified strikes,
causing huge losses to economy. With the national target of employment generation for 10 crore
people and increasing the share of manufacturing in the gross domestic product
(GDP) from the existing 16 per cent to 25 per cent, these amendments in the
labour laws are critical.
Evidently, Rajasthan has not only led the way in
skill development and labour reforms, but the steps taken by the State Government will also
facilitate flexibility in hiring and bring more workers under the labour
legislation. The desert State rightly expects
that this move would make it a
better investment destination. According to the official estimates, about 85
per cent of the factories in Rajasthan employ less than 100 workers, while the
reforms are expected to generate 15 lakh additional jobs, giving credence to the
fact that the State is marching ahead in the field of labour welfare.
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