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Centre won't amend labour laws, promises minister Dattatreya

Workers of unorganised sector to get smart cards for health, insurance, pension
Last Updated 25 January 2015, 20:45 IST

The Centre will not bring any amendment to the labour laws that will take away the rights of labourers, promised Union Minister of State for Labour andEmployment (independent charge) Bandaru Dattatreya.

Addressing the 19th quarterly convention of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) here on Sunday, Dattatreya said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would work in favour of labourers and to protect their interests. 

“As of now, there are 44 laws that have been protecting the interests of labourers both in organised and unorganised sectors. We are planning to bring in reforms in industrial Acts. These Acts in no way curtail the rights of labourers, but will give teeth to the government machinery to punish those who do not follow the rules,” he said.

The Union government, under the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, will launch a smart card - Unorganised Workers' Identification Number - that will give multiple benefits related to health, insurance and pension for the unorganised sector workers. This card would be seeded to the Aadhaar number or the bank account, he said.

The Labour and Employment Ministry is finalising talks with the union minister for women and child development on bringing Asha and Anganwadi workers also under this scheme, said Dattatreya.“In collaboration with state governments, we are planning to launch several housing schemes for the unorganised sector,” he said. 

The NDA government is launching a portal - srama eva jayate - which would contain updates related to various schemes of the Union government and also details of labourers employed with any organisation.

The portal will contain details of labourers’ PF, ESI and others. An SMS alert would be sent to the employee regarding the PF and other information regularly, he said.

In his maiden speech at a mega convention after taking charge as union minister, Dattatreya said that Karnataka will get the first model Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in India.

The government is planning to improve the quality of teaching at the polytechnics and ITIs with new technology and by bridging the gap between the industrial demand and skilled workforce, the minister said.  Under the prior-learning scheme, training would be provided to youths to enhance their skills and this will help in increasing the wages of the labourers, he said.

Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar, Rajya Sabha member Ayanur Manjunath, BMS president K Ramakrishna Poonja and others were present.

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(Published 25 January 2015, 20:45 IST)

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