Welfare board for garment workers, tailors
T.S. Ranganna
‘There are 2.35 cr. unorganised workers in the State’
They should get Rs. 150 a day: Labour Minister
Speaking to The Hindu, Labour Minister B.N. Bache Gowda said that there were 2.35 crore unorganised workers in the State, who were getting a paltry daily wage of Rs. 84. Those working in the garment industry, autorickshaws, hotels and various other sectors, including agriculture, were not getting adequate wages. The minimum wage, which was fixed in 2003, is to be reviewed this year.
Since the Union Government is vested with the power to fix the daily wages for the unorganised sector, the State Government could do very little, he said. However, Mr. Gowda said, the workers in the unorganised sector should get wages of Rs. 150 a day, if they have to survive the steep price rise. The workers in the unorganised sector were the most exploited lot, he added.
Mr. Bache Gowda said that reforms had been brought in in the labour front in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka was lacking in that respect. He added that he was going to these States on a study tour next month. In Kerala, he said the government had created boards for 16 sectors in the unorganised sector. He said there were 12 lakh construction workers in the State, for whom a welfare board had been created.
He said that 50,000 workers have enrolled for membership to get the facility by paying a fee of Rs. 25. The urban local bodies such as the city municipal councils have collected Rs. 90 crore from builders and contractors, working both for the government and the private sector, and the amount would be utilised for welfare measures of the workers.
The Minister said that the workers would receive funds, in case they needed medical assistance for ailments of the heart, kidney or for cancer. Their children would also be educated. There were two lakh workers in the plantation sector in the State, who have been brought under the ESIS. But, the State Government could do little for the beedi workers as it was in the realm of the Union Government. He agreed that Rs. 80 for rolling 1,000 beedis should be raised to a reasonable level.
ITI training
He said that the number of skills to be taught and the training in the 148 Industrial Training Institutes would be upgraded from 22 to 44 this year in trades such as computers, electrical, electronics, fitter, welding, sheet metal, tool and dye-making. Vocational education in carpentry, smithy and other skills for boys and girls, who have passed SSLC, would be trained. Even those who had failed in the examination would receive training. There were 79,000 students undergoing training in vocational courses, he added.
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