Following the commission’s filing of the ‘unorganized workers social security bill, 2006,’ a number of gatherings, conversations, and demonstrations have taken place across different forums. In the 40th edition of the Indian Labour Conference, which was held in Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on December 9–10, 2005, talks on the proposed law took place. The draft bill and the additional two draft pieces of legislation were distributed together. The three proposals were considered by a committee on social security for unorganized employees, which then adopted decisions.
The resolutions passed by the committee are:
It is important to move quickly to enact extensive legislation that addresses social security issues as well as conditions of employment for employees in the unorganized sector.
All unorganized workers, including home-based workers, wage workers, migrant workers, and self-employed individuals, must be included if their average monthly wages are less than Rs. 6500.
Before the approval of the Act, the mechanism for social security should be developed.
The national government ought to provide funding for ground-level safety initiatives, including life and accident insurance, health insurance, and maternity benefits.
Tripartite social security boards shall design and evaluate the legal frameworks at the national level as well as in the states and union territories.
The state governments’ apparatus, which includes municipalities and panchayat raj structures, ought to be used to carry out the initiatives.
The government at the national level should pay the administrative and infrastructure expenses associated with the proposed law over the first five years.
The union territories or the state governments may choose to merge social security benefits already offered under the current national or regional boards with the programs under the new legislation.
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Objective of the Unorgnized Workers Social Security Act, 2008:
According to workforce employment, India’s unorganized industry is the country’s largest. It includes both agricultural and non-agricultural activities, as well as allied ones like forestry, raising cattle, and fishing. The purpose of the law is to give workers in the informal sector some kind of social protection. The concept put forth by this law will be comprehensive in character and establish a distinct separation of powers between the two levels of government. It requires the national social security program to be implemented by both the national and state governments.
Social security benefits provided under Unorgnized Workers Social Security Act, 2008:
Medical benefits include maternity benefits for employees or the spouses of men who are employed, as well as health insurance for oneself, a spouse, and children under the age of 18, as well as a sick pay allowance.
Insurance against natural and accidental death.
For BPL employees who are over sixty years old, there is old-age security in the form of an old-age pension, and for all other employees, there is provident fund-cum-employment assistance.
Shortcomings of Unorgnized Workers Social Security Act, 2008:
Out of over 42 crores employees employed nationwide, it is obvious that the legislation is only designed to apply to 6 crores of them. Any law is intended to guarantee that the state will uphold some legal obligations, but this act left the execution totally up to the desires of the governments in power at the time. The talks that follow will provide a critical study of the structure and operation of the act and determine if the goal of its implementation has been achieved in the current situation.
The title of the legislation is misleading because it fails to provide social security to any group of workers. The only thing the statute guarantees is the creation of an advisory board at the federal and state levels, with the respective labor ministries serving as its chairpersons. This is the biggest deception ever committed against unorganized workers, who make up one third of the total population and two thirds of our nation’s wealth.
After the second national commission for unorganized employees was established in 1999 to reform the labor market to reflect liberalization and globalization, ten years had passed. The National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS), according to the UPA administration led by Congress, promises welfare laws for unorganized employees. Following two measures created by NCEUS following extensive consultations with trade union leaders, the NAC developed a law in 2005. However, these were completely ignored, and the labor ministry produced a different draft. Once more, every suggestion in the bill that would have required a financial commitment from the government was rejected by the finance ministry.
After that, the measure was altered, submitted to the group of ministers, and tabled in the Rajya Sabha in 2007. Ultimately, a bill has been passed that neither regulates working conditions nor implements any social security programs; it isn’t applicable to all unorganized workers or includes agrarian laborers; it does not impose any obligations on the government; it does not offer a system for implementation; it fails to propose any penalties for non-implementation; it does not establish a corpus fund; and it does not make an explicit definition of unorganized workers.
The bill’s initial title was altered to the 2008 Unorganized Workers Social Security Act. This may be misconstrued at first glance as an attempt to expand the bill’s scope to include unorganized sector workers as well. However, the definition of unorganized laborers is unaffected by the title modification in any way. On the surface, it could seem as though the legislation also covers unorganized employees in the organized sector. However, they weren’t protected.
Additionally, it defines the unorganized labor market and unorganized workers. The unorganized employees will also be subject to the undefined requirement of a monthly income cap. It might be the upper limit for calculating BPL in rural and urban regions, the size of landholdings, or anything else that the government has yet to disclose.
The statute stated that the government would notify recipients of their benefits on a regular basis, as might be decided by the central government. Additionally, ten programs were put forth. The programs are not brand new and are typically exclusively available to BPL households. The Unorganized Workers Social Security Act has evolved into one of the biggest farces of the new century. It has been interpreted as the start.
Conclusion:
Neither an independent measure for agricultural workers nor their inclusion in its scope has been proposed. The NCEUS produced two bills. Social security was abandoned and is now limited to social security in its most basic form. It appears that the 2008 statute omitted a sizable portion of unorganized labor. This omission shows the actual nature of the “politics of of inclusiveness” is shown by this exclusion. Only a tiny portion of unorganized laborers are covered by the statute. The act’s passage is without any legally binding guarantees for the creation of a central welfare fund. The statute does not include any provisions for punishments to deal with employers that break it. The Arjun Sengupta Commission’s draft bill on working conditions will no longer be in effect, leaving unorganized employees’ working conditions uncontrolled and unenforced. The unique issue of female unorganized laborers is not addressed in the budget. Their issues have received little attention. Not only are penalties excluded, but there are also no repercussions for the bureaucrats who refuse to include any unorganized workers in either of the two planned plans.
The government and the implemented legislation include a number of needs to stop this kind of circumstance so as to address the problems that are obvious in the unorganized sectors. Penal measures for employer violations of the 2008 legislation should be added. Unorganized employee identification should be required, and a social security identity card should be provided. This card should be required for every job, whether temporary or permanent. It is necessary to broaden the definition of “unorganized workers” to encompass those who work in the agricultural sector, the organized private sector, anganwadi programs, etc.
The creation of a central welfare fund should be legally guaranteed together with the adoption of the legislation.
Bibliography:
1. Unorganised workers social security act-2008.
2. Madhavan Pillai- labour and industrial laws.
3. Goswami.V.G.Dr- labour industrial laws by central agency, Allahabad, 8th edtn, 2004.
4. Misra.S.N-labour and industrial laws.
5. Srivatsava.S.C-social security and labour laws by eastern book co. Lucknow, 1985.
6. Hallen.G.C- dynamics of social security in India.
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