JOIN USSpeaking at a programme to observe World Labour Day here on Thursday, the minister said the practice of working women in night shifts should be banned. He also called for measures to eradicate child labour practice.
The minister said child labour practice was rampant in Muslims due to poverty. Parents have been pushing children to work instead of providing them education. Labour organisations should take up the cause of education such parents.
The Labour Department should work for the welfare of the labourers. The officials of the Department should study the labour problems voluntarily and respond accordingly. Indentured labourers and child labourers should be liberated and shown the proper way of life. The labour unions should join hands with the government in this regard.
The problems of the labour class could be addressed successfully if and only if the the wards of labourers secure education and occupy prominent posts in the administration.
Legislator K P Bache Gowda called upon labour organisations to ensure that the benefits meant for organised labourers reach out to unorganised labourers as well. He said the government should formulate special schemes for the welfare of the labourers. He suggested the labourers to become financially strong by organising themselves into cooperative societies and urged government extend loan at 3 per cent as being done to weavers.
Chairman of K V and Panchagiri Endowments K V Naveen Kiran said labour organisations should stay away from politics. They should honestly work for the uplift of the labour class.The labourers too should imbibe skills to compete at the global level and successfully meet the challenges posed by globalisation.
Federation of Construction Workers member Venugopala Verma called for the organised and unorganised workers to come under a common umbrella. He said that men and women labourers should be paid wages at par.
Zilla Panchayat president R Vinuta Srinivas, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee minority cell vice-president C J Rajayappa and others were present. A procession was later taken out in the City to mark the occasion.