Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment chaired a national level videoconference with all States and UTs on 20th June 2024 with the two-fold agenda of: (i) assessing the preparedness of States and UTs with respect to pre-publication of draft rules relating to the four labour codes, and requirements of capacity building, IT inventions etc for Labour Reforms; and (ii) progress on utilization of cess fund relating to welfare of building and other construction (BoC) workers. The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary/ Secretary/ Labour Commissioners of 36 States and UTs and senior officers of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The meeting discussed the objectives of Labour Codes to promote labour welfare by way of universalisation of wages and social security, ensuring safe and healthy work place, formalisation of employment, higher female labour force participation, skill development of workers, portability of benefits for migrant workers.  Besides the aspect of facilitating employment generation through simplification and rationalisation of the labour laws.

It was noted that majority of States/UTs have pre-published the rules under the Codes and only few States/UTs are still in the process of framing their draft Rules. Gaps between State Rules and Central Rules were also discussed for harmonising the Rules across all States/UTs.  States and UTs were also urged to focus on building their capacity in terms of logistics, IT, infrastructure and manpower.  The discussion was interactive and productive. Queries of States/UTs were also deliberated and it was decided to conduct a workshop with States/UTs to facilitate a common understanding on the next steps on implementation of the agenda on Labour Reforms, in due course of time.  Meanwhile, the States and UTs were requested to (i) review the draft Rules with respect to framework established by Labour Codes; and (ii) seek support if needed to expedite pre-publication of Rules for the few States/UTs yet to do so.

Further, the progress made by States/UTs in administration of welfare schemes for building and other construction (BoC) workers was also reviewed. Issues related to construction of educational institutions/schools for wards of BoC workers from BoC workers’ cess fund, API integration of BoC workers’ database with the Ministry’s database on unorganised workers on eShram, to ensure deduplication and portability of benefits to the workers, were discussed.  The coverage of BoC workers under the Government’s flagship social security schemes - Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) for life insurance, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) for personal accident insurance and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) for healthcare facilities, were discussed. All States and UTs were asked to complete social audit with respect to the expenditures made under BoC workers cess fund and also CAG audit.

Besides the above, the Ministry requested the States/UTs to promote the welfare of beedi workers by enhancing their enrolment in various welfare and social security schemes/initiatives of the Government.

Given the unprecedented ongoing heatwave, all States/UTs were also advised to continue to accord utmost priority to health and safety of workers by ensuring adequate preventive measures and extending all possible relief in case of emergencies.

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MJPS

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