The Ministry of Labour and Employment has issued the following statement in respect of a tweet dated 8.3.21 following a news item published in Business Standard on 11.10.20.

“This is in reference to the tweet of Shri SomeshJha dated 8.3.21 in relation to his news article titled “Reskill or Refund: Retrenched Workers face Hobson’s choice” published in Business Standard dated 11.10.2020.

“2.        Again the tweet represents half and selective facts. The notings quoted itself reads “…it is to be decided…” and it does not state a decision. The decision-making process in Government is continuous and a matter is finalized after considering the inputs of functionaries at various levels. Notings dated 26.10.20 which have been quoted in the tweet was reviewed and draft Rules were finalized on 28.10.20 at the level of Hon’ble Minister. Thereafter, the Government pre-published the draft Rules in Industrial Relations Code including on section 83 on 29.10.20 in public domain for stakeholder consultation which are extracted as under:

“35. Manner of utilization of fund under sub-section (3) of section 83.- Every employer who has retrenched a worker or workers under this Code, shall, within ten days, at the time of retrenching a worker or workers shall electronically transfer an amount equivalent to fifteen days of last drawn wages of such retrenched worker or workers in the account (name of the account shall be displayed on the website of the Ministry and Chief Labour Commissioner (Central)) to be maintained by the Central Government. The fund so received shall be transferred by the Central Government to each worker or workers‘ account electronically within forty five days of receipt of funds from the employer and the worker shall utilize such amount for his re-skilling. The employer shall also submit the list containing the name of each worker retrenched the amount equivalent to fifteen days of wages last drawn in respect of each worker along with their bank account details to enable the Central Government to transfer the amount in their respective account.”

“3.        Hence, neither thenews article dated 12.10.20was factually correct nor the tweet dated 08.03.2021represents the complete truth and is based on selective use of information obtained through RTI when the noting quoted is also subsequent to the date of publication of the Article.”

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MS/jk

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