| The Secretary, Labour and Employment, Smt. Sudha Pillai briefed the Media-persons here today on the initiatives of her Ministry during the last one year. Following is the text of the Note issued on this occasion:
"The launching and operationalisation of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, introduction of Unorganized Sector Workers Social Security Bill, close monitoring of "Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana" and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, amendment in the Maternity Benefit Act, enhancement of benefits for ESI beneficiaries, amendment in the payment of Bonus Act for increasing eligibility limit, operationalisation of several new centrally sponsored schemes such as upgradation of ITIs, upgradation of 1400 ITIs through public-private partnership, skill development initiatives, operationalisation of Building and Other Construction Workers' Act in 18 States are some of the major initiatives taken during the year 2007-08.
Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana
Keeping in view the vulnerability of poor households in the times of medical emergencies, the "Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana" or RSBY scheme has been launched by the Central Government to provide a support system to the BPL families in the participating States and districts through the provision of health insurance in the case of hospitalization. There is a five year plan for rolling out the RSBY which allows each participating State to cover 20 per cent of their respective districts each year. Almost every large State government has expressed its intention of joining the scheme and many have already issued tender notices. The unique feature of RSBY is the provision of Smart Card based health insurance coverage. The Cards will facilitate portability of benefits and cashless medical cover upto Rs. 30,000 for the unorganized sector worker and his family (unit of five) per annum. More than 50,000 Smart Cards have already been issued in the NCT of Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan where the Scheme has been operationalised. Fifteen States have advertised tender notices for selecting Insurance companies and Punjab, Bihar and Uttrakhand have recently signed MoU with Centre to operationalise the scheme at the earliest. The ambitious scheme, when fully operational in next five years, would be one of the largest social sector programme in the world involving several crore beneficiaries.
The Introduction of the Unorganized Sector Workers Social Security Bill
The Unorganized Sector Workers Social Security Bill, 2007 was introduced in the Parliament on 10th September 2007. During the preparatory phase, wide-ranging consultations were held with employees' representatives and specifically with the representatives of major categories of unorganized sector workers. The Bill seeks to achieve the objective of providing social security with regard to life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits, old age pension and any other benefit, as may be decided by the Central Government.
Monitoring Other Welfare Schemes
Labour and Employment, being the nodal Ministry for the welfare of unorganized sector workers, has also been monitoring the performance of other two major new schemes viz; 'Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana' and the revamped Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme. The 'Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana' envisages the provision of death and disability insurance cover to rural landless household. Under the Scheme, the head of the family or one earning member in the family will be insured. The Central Government will bear 50% of the premium of Rs. 200/- per year per person and the remaining 50% of the premium will be borne by the State Government.
39,000 Houses constructed for Beedi workers
During the year, the housing scheme for beedi workers was revamped which resulted in achieving the higher targets. For instance, the Ministry spent Rs. 108.90 crore in the previous financial year which was almost double the expenditure (Rs. 56 crore) incurred under this scheme during 2006-07. In terms of physical achievements also, the number of houses constructed under the Scheme went up 38,978 which was more than double the houses (18,750) constructed last year.
The Payment of Bonus Act
The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 was amended by way of an Ordinance and later made into an Act in October 2007, enhancing the eligibility limit from Rs. 3500/- to Rs. 10,000/- per month and the calculation ceiling from Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 3500/-. This was in consonance with the decision taken in the 41st Session of the Indian Labour Conference in April, 2007.
ESI : Upper Ceiling Enhanced
Similarly, the upper ceiling for availability of benefits under the Employees State Insurance Corporation was enhanced from Rs. 6500/- to Rs. 10,000/-. Other initiatives taken which require amendment to ESI Act, relate to making available the ESI hospitals to unorganized workers and making ESI benefits applicable to establishments employing ten or more workers irrespective of the power usage.
National Floor Level Minimum Wage Mooted
In order to reduce the disparity in minimum wages across the country, the Central Government has mooted the concept of the national floor level minimum wage. The national floor level minimum wage has been revised from Rs.66/- per day to Rs.80/- per day with effect from September last year.
Maternity Benefit Act Amended
The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 has been amended to enhance the medical bonus for eligible working women from Rs. 250/- to Rs. 1000/- with the provision upto a ceiling of Rs. 20,000/-.
Upgradation of ITIs
World Bank assisted Scheme for Upgradation of 400 ITIs as Centres of Excellence was approved in 2007. In the first year itself the upgradation of over 250 ITIs at a cost of Rs. 221 crore has been taken up. Similarly, another scheme announced by the Finance Minister in his 2007-08 Budget Speech, envisaged upgradation of 1396 Government ITIs into Centre of Excellence through Public-private partnership. During the first year of its implementation, (2007-08) 300 ITIs were to be upgraded and each ITI was granted an interest free loan of Rs. 2.5 crore. The Ministry, despite getting the mandatory financial approvals etc only in January this year, has been able to achieve the intended physical and financial targets and fully released the allocated fund of Rs. 750 crore during the year.
Skill Development Initiative
The Government is giving special emphasis on the skill development of workers in the unorganized sector and has launched another new scheme, "Skill Development Initiative" (SDI) which represents a new strategic framework for skill development, namely, Modular Employable Skills (MES) framework. The Scheme is expected to cater to the needs of the school dropouts and unorganized sector workers in a big way. As against the target of 10,000 persons for the financial year 2007-08, the Ministry exceeded the target by training over 24,000 persons.
The renewed emphasis on skill development can be gauged from the fact that the overall, the expenditure on Training and Skill Development went up from Rs. 101.45 crore during 2006-07 to Rs. 1094.33 crore during 2007-08.
18 States implement the Building & Construction Workers' Act
Another important achievement of the year 2007-08 include the operationalisation of the Building and Other Construction Workers' Act 1996 in 18 States whereas, till recently, it was operative in only five States. Intensive efforts were made by holding ten regional meetings across the country to implement the Act in spirit. Efforts are already on to fully operationalise the law in all parts of the country. " *** |
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