New Delhi: Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour has recommended allotment of ‘social security number’ to migrant workers which can help them to get benefits of various social schemes in other states also.
The standing committee chaired by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Bhartruhari Mahtab has made various recommendations in its 180-page report on the Code on Social Security and submitted it to the Lok Sabha Speaker. “We have submitted our report on the Code on Social Security, 2019, to Lok Sabha Speaker through email,” Mahtab said. The committee has suggested for allotting portable social security number to migrant workers. Mahtab said this will help migrant workers to reap benefits of social security schemes across the country.
The panel has made a case for “unemployment insurance and reducing continuous service period to one year from five years for getting gratuity.” It also asked to specify the source of funding for running social security schemes enshrined in the Code. It suggested including incorporate “Unemployment Insurance”, in the Code, as recommended by the Second National Commission on Labour (SNCL), for the unorganised sector workers.
According to the report, the committee has requested the Labour ministry to revisit the proposed amalgamation of Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959, with the Code and rather contemplate examining the compliance aspect to the provisions contained in the Act.
It said that “the Act provides for reporting of vacancies to the Employment Exchanges” does not in any way connect with the theme and thrust of social security.
Moreover, just to reduce the number of Acts/legislations, any Act not connected with the subject matter of the Code should not be illogically subsumed in it, the panel opined.
The panel asked the Union ministry to have a relook on those labour welfare laws which have been left out of the amalgamation process irrespective of the abolition, so as to ensure that the merited and principled provisions as contained in such laws are duly incorporated in the code. The panel emphasised upon the need to clearly spell out, either in Preamble or at any other appropriate place, the principles to be followed for provision of social security benefits to all workers in accordance with the provisions stipulated in the Constitution of India and International Labour Organisation Conventions.
The panel suggested that a clear and specific enforcement date needed in the Code to ensure effective provision of social security to all the workers within a definite timeline.
