YOJANA

APRIL - 2017

Chief Editor’s Desk Labour with Dignity

Notes

Ministry of Labour and Employment is now taking steps for simplification, amalgamation and rationalization of Central

Labour laws and replacing them with 4 labour codes viz.

1. Labour Code on Wages Bill 2015,

2. Labour Code on Industrial Relations Bill 2015,

3. Labour Code on Social Security and Welfare

4. Labour Code on Occupational Safety, Healthy and Working Conditions.

MCQ Who is the MoS of the Ministry of Labour and Employment?

A. Bandaru Dattatreya

B. Nitin Gadkari

C. Kalraj Mishra

D. Jual Oram

Labour's Landscape in India • In the words of Arthur James Todd ‚Labour Welfare means

anything done for the employees over and above the wages paid‛.

Notes • The report of the International Labour Organization –

Employment and Social Outlook, Trends 2016 has underlined that ‘Poor job quality remains a pressing issue worldwide. The incidence of vulnerable employment – the share of own-account work and contributing family employment, categories of work typically subject to high levels of precariousness(अनिनित

) – is declining more slowly than before the start of the global crisis. .

Women and work ILO’s report the gender wage gap in India is among the highest in the world, at 26%.

This is significantly higher than the average for the countries in the Asian continent, which stands at 23 per cent, and the mean average gender wage gap of less than1 5 per cent in the developed economies.

Gender pay gap could take 170 years to close, says World Economic Forum(in 2016)

Notes

Between 2004 to 2011, when the Indian economy grew at a healthy average of about 7%, there was a decline in female participation in the country’s labour force from over 35% to 25%. It’s a puzzling picture; over the past few decades access to education for Indian women has increased but still they have increasingly stayed away from employment.

Informal sector

The informal sector, informal economy, or grey economy is the part of an economy that is neither taxed, nor monitored by any form of government. Unlike the formal economy, activities of the informal economy are not included in the gross national product (GNP) and gross domestic product (GDP) of a country. The informal sector can be described as a grey market in labour.

Labour reforms in India

Most opportune time for labour reforms in India for two reasons –

1. China is fast losing its advantage as manufacturing hub as labour cost has trebled there in last one decade

2. Second the Government of India is truly committed to ‘Make in India’ and attracting the investors and large businesses to set up their manufacturing bases in the country.

Less regulations Industries have been relieved of 16 labour laws.

Industrialists can file their own compliance report, that too online.

Apprentice act 1961 underwent many important changes.

According to the new laws the industries don’t require the approval of the labour department’s advisor to provide training to the apprentice.

Protecting the rights of the labours

1. Allow them to form unions

2. Health and safety of workers

3. Provision of special facilities for women workers

4. Establishment of grievance redressal mechanism

India needs a liberal labour market which can contribute towards a competitive manufacturing and service for it liberal labour policy is elusive.

Informal Labour Market in India

National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector(NCEUS)

The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) is a national body commissioned by the Indian government to address the issues faced by enterprises in relation to the unorganised sector

The Commission was established in 2004 to act as an advisory board for matters regarding the informal employment sector. In India, the informal sector of the economy represents 93% of the total workforce.

Notes The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector(NCEUS)

‚defined the informal/unorganized sector as all unincorporated private enterprises owned by individuals or households engaged in the sale and production of goods and services operated on a propriety or partnership bases and with less than ten workers. ‚

National Commission on Labour(2002)

National Commission on Labour (2002) headed by SP Gupta

Ensuring Gender Justice in Labour

Only a very few countries – including Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – do worse than India when it comes to women’s participation in the workforce.

Because of the decline in WPR of women India’s ranking in terms of female participation rate declined from 68th out of 83 countries in 2010 to 84th out of 87 countries in 2012.

Notes Five major issues for women in workplace –

1. Wage gap/Equal pay

2. Career opportunities

3. Harassment

4. Having children while building a career

5. Work-life balance

Notes Quality of women’s employment – Differ in Urban areas (Education, Organized Sector, Receptionist) & Rural Areas (Agriculture, bidi, textiles, bangla, making, packaging etc.)

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Steps to Enhance Women Participation -> ASHA(Accredited Social Health Activist), Anganwadi, Education can play a key role

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Maternity Benefit Act(amendment) of 2017

1. Maternity leave available to the working women to be increased from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for the first two children.

2. Maternity leave for children beyond the first two will continue to be 12 weeks.

3. The Act also proposes provisions for crèches(a nursery where babies and young children are cared for during the working day) in an establishment with 50 or more workers

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has stated that 18 lakh units have been issued Labour Identification Number (LIN) provided by Shram Suvidha Portal under various labour laws.

The roadmap for implementing the UAN programme has been prepared by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). Purpose: Facilitates workers in organized sector to transfer their provident fund deposits while switching jobs anywhere in India easily. The UAN would be one account number which would be allotted to a subscriber for various schemes run by the EPFO for his or her entire service period with different employers.

What is automation?

The use of computers to control a particular process in order to increase reliability and efficiency, often through the replacement of employees. For a manufacturer, this could entail using robotic assembly lines to manufacture a product.

Employment scenario- India & World Governance 4 out of 10 jobs would be lost to automation by 2021 1. Automation is the new normal in sectors like engineering, manufacturing, automobiles, IT and banking 2. As automation adoption increases, all high transaction and labour intensive jobs will take a hit, according to experts 3. There will be a visible change in the next 3-4 years, first major effects will be seen in the sectors like manufacturing, IT and ITeS and security services and agriculture 4. By 2021, 4 out of every 10 jobs globally would be lost because of automation 5. And of these, one in every 4 will be from India. That sums up to 23 per cent of job loss in India 6. Experts said low skill and high transaction jobs will be affected as automation takes away their jobs 7. Hiring for short term projects, flexi hiring would be the way forward in these areas for roles that cannot be automated

Which of the following is not associated with the UNO?

A. ILO B. WHO C. ASEAN D. All of the above

Which of the following statements is / are correct? 1.Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) provides cashless health insurance to the people living below poverty line.

2. It works under aegis of ministry of labor and employment.

a. Only 1

b. Only 2

c. Both 1 and 2

d. None of the above