“Each of the initiatives launched today by Labour
Ministry is big enough to be launched at a different occasion each time,” said
the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi at a function organized by the Ministry
of Labour & Employment at Vigyan Bhawan here today. The Prime Minister
lauded the proactive approach of the Ministry for having completed the
background work before the actual launch of five different initiatives by the
Ministry. The dais was shared by Minister for Labour
& Employment, Steel and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of
Health & Family Welfare, Dr Harshvardhan, Minister of Micro, Small, Medium
Enterprises, Shri Kalraj Mishra, Minister of Heavy
Industries and Public Enterprises Shri Anant Geete, Minister
of State for Labour & Employment, Steel and Mines, Shri Vishnu Deo Sai and the
Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Smt Gauri Kumar.
Shri Narendra Singh Tomar termed these initiatives as
bold steps in achieving Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Minimum Government and
Maximum Governance’, emphasizing that all actions of the Ministry are geared to
bring about greater transparency and speed in the system. Shri Tomar informed
that three bills had already been introduced in the Parliament with the vision
to harness India’s demographic dividend, and facilitate ease of doing business
in the country. “It is envisaged that the Apprentice Act, upon implementation,
will increase the number of apprentices to over 23 lakhs,” he said.
Shri Tomar expressed that the momentum of bringing reforms in the
labour sector will be sustained and archaic laws will be done away with. In the
forthcoming winter session of the Parliament, he said
that the Ministry plans to bring amendments to introduce a single act for MSMEs
and for abolishing child labour in the country.
The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate
Karyakram saw participation of senior Labour, Health and Technical
Education Ministers from over 20 states including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Puducherry etc. The
five main schemes launched by Shri Modi included:
·
A dedicated Shram Suvidha Portal:
That would allot Labour Identification Number (LIN) to nearly 6 lakhs units and
allow them to file online compliance for 16 out of 44 labour laws
·
An all-new Random Inspection Scheme:
Utilizing technology to eliminate human discretion in selection of units for
Inspection, and uploading of Inspection Reports within 72 hours of inspection
mandatory
·
Universal Account Number: Enables 4.17 crore
employees to have their Provident Fund account portable, hassle-free and
universally accessible
·
Apprentice Protsahan Yojana: Will
support manufacturing units mainly and other establishments by reimbursing 50%
of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training
·
Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana:
Introducing a Smart Card for the workers in the unorganized sector seeded with
details of two more social security schemes
On the occasion, the Prime Minister felicitated
ITI Brand Ambassadors, that is, icons of success coming from ITIs in different
vocations. He released a booklet on National Brand Ambassadors for Vocational
Training and Souvenir for All India Skill Competitions and distributed prizes
to awardees of All India Skill Competitions. Simultaneously, a process was set
into motion to send SMSs to about 1 crore EPFO subscribers, over 6lakh establishments,
1800 Inspecting Officers and 4 lakhs ITIs trainees regarding the relevant
benefits.
Details of the schemes launched by Prime
Minister are given below:
Dedication of Shram Suvidha Portal and Labour
Inspection Scheme in Central Sphere:
Multiplicity of labour laws and the
difficulty in their compliance has always been cited as an impediment to the
industrial development. The World Bank annual report for year 2014 in a
comparative study on Indian Labour Laws has established the fact that the
Indian states with flexible labour laws and easier compliance mechanism have
fared better in terms of Industrial development than those where labour laws
are rigid and the compliance is difficult as well. Ease of compliance has also
been found to be important for the growth of organized sector. Ministry of
Labour and Employment and Ministry of Commerce and Industry are both working in
close coordination to fulfill the mission of “Make in India”. Not only it is
needed to amend the labour laws and make them flexible for the present
circumstances but it is also important to ensure that the compliance is made
easy as this will encourage the development of manufacturing industry
particularly MSME sector in the country.
Amendments to three major labour
laws were presented to Parliament during this Monsoon session of the
Parliament. Ministry has developed a Shram Suvidha Portal in central sphere to
create a conducive environment for industrial development. The 4 main features
of this Portal are:
a. Unique
labour identification number (LIN) will be allotted to Units to facilitate
online registration.
b. Filing
of self-certified and simplified Single Online Return by the industry. Now
Units will only file a single consolidated Return online instead of filing 16 separate
Returns.
c. Mandatory
uploading of inspection Reports within 72 hours by the Labour inspectors.
d. Timely
redressal of grievances will be ensured with the help of the portal.
This will bring in the necessary ease in
compliance of provisions related to labour and will be a step forward in
promoting the ease of doing business. The complete database available
centrally at unified portal will also add to the informed policy process. The
portal will be operative in 4 central organizations namely Chief Labour
Commissioner, Directorate General of Mines Safety, Employee Provident Fund and
Employees’ State insurance Corporation. In this endeavor of the Ministry,
complete information of all 11 lakh units for these organizations has been
collected, digitized and de-duplicated reducing the total number to 6-7 lakh. It
is proposed to allot LIN to all these 6-7 lakh units.
Labour Inspection Scheme:
So far the units for inspection were selected locally without any objective
criteria. To bring in transparency in labour inspection, a transparent Labour
Inspection scheme is being developed. The four features of the inspection
scheme are:
(i)
Serious
matters are to be covered under the mandatory inspection list.
(ii)
A
computerized list of inspections will be generated randomly based on
pre-determined objective criteria.
(iii)
Complaints
based inspections will also be determined centrally after examination based on
data and evidence.
(iv)
There
will be provision of Emergency List for inspection of serious cases in specific
circumstances.
A transparent Inspection Scheme will provide a check
on the arbitrariness in compliance mechanism. Immediately on inauguration, an
sms/email were sent to 1800 Labour inspectors of these enforcement agencies
on behalf of the Prime Minister.
Dedication of Portability through Universal Account
Number (UAN) for Employees Provident Fund:
Under the scheme complete
information for approximately 4 crore subscribers of EPF has been centrally
compiled and digitized and a UAN has been allotted to all. The UAN is being
seeded with Bank account and Aadhar Card and other KYC details for financial
inclusion of vulnerable section of society and their unique identification.
Camps are being organized to facilitate opening of bank account and Aadhar card
for those subscribers who have no bank account or Aadhar card as on date. This
will ensure portability of the Social Security Benefits to the labour of
organised sector across the jobs and geographic areas. The EPF account of
employee will be now be updated monthly and at the same time he will be
informed through sms. Finally it will ensure that each of the 4 crore or more
EPF account holders have direct access to their EPF accounts and will also
enable them to consolidate all their previous accounts (approximately Rs 27000
Crore are currently lying with EPFO in inoperative accounts). By 16th
October, 2014, approximately 2 crore subscribers will have the benefit of
portability through UAN. Subscribers have been informed through sms/email
immediately on inauguration. The minimum pension for employees has been
introduced first time so that employees’ pension is not less than Rs. 1000 per
month. The wage ceiling has been raised from Rs. 6500 to Rs. 15000 per month to
ensure that vulnerable groups are covered under EPF Scheme.
Recognition of Brand Ambassadors of
ITIs :
The
Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the country are the backbone of the
vocational training system, only source of supply of skilled manpower to
manufacturing industry. There are 11,500 ITIs having about 16 lakh seats. But
this is grossly inadequate for supplying skilled manpower to Indian industry.
Only 10% of the workforce has got formal or informal technical training. Only
one fourth of this is formally trained. Whereas in South Korea, Japan, Germany,
the percentage of workforce having received skills training is 96, 80 and 75
respectively. There is also another big imbalance. The intake capacity of
undergraduate engineering colleges was more than 16 lakh in India which was
almost same as seating capacity of ITIs. Whereas we need about at least 10 shop
floor workers for an engineer. Therefore we need to rapidly expand certificate
level vocational training if we have to succeed in our mission of ‘Make in
India’.
However, as a general trend, pass outs from education
system do not take admission in the ITIs as their first choice. Mostly end up
in ITI after exhausting all other options for higher education. This is
because; blue collar work is not respected and regarded in the society. For
meeting the skill needs of our industry and for enhancing employability of our
youth, we need to attract more youth to it is by enhancing dignity of
vocational training.
Over 60 years of existence ITIs have given excellent
technician, mechanics, entrepreneurs and professional leaders. Manufacturing
sector is reservoir of this success. They have brought name and fame in the
country and abroad. It is proposed to compile these success stories and publish
in print and electronic form. These success stories shall be used for motivating
youngsters and their parents. We would like to showcase such successful ITI
graduates as National Brand Ambassadors of Vocational Training. This will be
taken as communicator and catalyst, taking the message of ITI vocational
training to every section of society. This will also improve the brand image as
well as social acceptance of the vocational training. The Prime Minister has
released this publication and felicitate few of these Brand Ambassadors. This
will send a good message in the society and help in giving honour and
acceptability, removing social stigma from vocational training and skilled
work. Best wishes for a successful career will be sent on behalf of the Prime
Minister to 4 lakh ITI students through SMS.
All India Skill Competition:
The Ministry of labour conducts competitions to
foster the healthy spirit of competitiveness among the trainee Craftsmen/
Apprentices. Winning spirit brings pride to world of skills, improves changing
work habits to be more organized, goal setting to achieve goals, and simply
performing higher quality work. They are:
a) All India Skill Competition for Craftsmen among
trainees admitted under Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS). It is conducted once
in a year. On the basis of marks obtained in skill competition by trainees, the
award is given to BEST CRAFTSMAN-cash prize and merit certificate, BEST
INSTITUTE – a merit certificate and the BEST STATE –a shield.
b) All India Competition for Apprentices among
trainees admitted under Apprenticeship Training Scheme (ATS). It is conducted
twice every year. The award is given to the BEST Apprentice- cash prize of Rs
50,000 and a merit certificate and Runner Up Apprentice- cash prize of Rs 25000
and merit certificate in each Trade, and the BEST ESTABLISHMENT on all India
basis- a trophy and certificate by President of India.
Trade covered in Competition:
Both the competitions are conducted in 15 trades i.e. Fitter, Turner,
Machinist, Welder (G&E), Mechanic (Motor Vehicle), Mechanic (Diesel),
Instrument Mechanic, Draughtsman (Mechanical), Draughtsman (Civil),
Electrician, Electronic Mechanic, Cutting & Sewing, Foundry Man, Computer
Operator & Programming Assistant (COPA), and Refrigeration & Air
Conditioning Mechanic.
Launch of
Apprenticeship Protsahan Yojna :
The
Apprentices Act 1961 was enacted for regulating the Apprenticeship Training
Scheme in the industry for imparting on-the-job training to apprentices. Presently,
there are only 2.82 lakh apprentices undergoing training against 4.9 lakh
seats.
Apprenticeship Scheme has huge potential for
training the large number of young person’s to make them employable. If
properly revamped, it could also significantly contribute to ‘Make in India’
Mission. Similar schemes have been highly successful in countries like Germany,
China and Japan where the number of apprentices are stated to be 3 million, 20
million and 10 million respectively.
Present framework tightly regulates the number of
apprentices trade-wise, and is not attractive to youth because of low rate of
stipend. Further the industry is averse to participate because the scheme is
not viable for the small industries. There are a large number of establishments
including MSMEs where training facilities are available but could not be
utilized so far.
A major initiative has been undertaken to revamp the
apprenticeship Scheme in India after extensive consultation with industry,
states and other stakeholders with the vision of increasing apprenticeship
seats to more than 20 lakhs in next few years. There are four components of
this initiative, which are given below:
a. Making
the legal framework friendly to both, industry and youth. The necessary Bill
amending the Act was placed and passed in Lok Sabha on 14.8.2014.
b. Enhancing
the rate of stipend and indexing it to minimum wages of semi skilled workers.
c. Apprentice
Protsahan Yojana which will support manufacturing units mainly and other
establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to apprentices during
first two years of their training.
d. Basic
training component (mainly class room training part) of the curricula is being
restructured on scientific principles to make it more effective, and MSMEs will
be supported financially by permitting this component in government funded SDI
scheme.
The Apprentice Protsahan Yojana
will support one lakh apprentices during the period upto March 2017. Selected
Apprentices and the Establishments ready to participate in this scheme from
various states will be invited and it is proposed that Prime Minister will give
sanction letters to these to mark the launch of the new scheme.
(The speech of the Prime Minister on the occasion is
place on the PIB website.)
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NSK/NN