Contract workers are paid much less than regular workers. This year's Economic Survey estimates wages are on an average 20 times higher in the formal sector than in the informal sector. Arindam Majumder reports.
The generation of quality jobs and skill development should be the focal point, cutting across ministries and departments, asserts Nivedita Mookerji.
The Union finance ministry has rejected a proposal sent by the labour ministry to double the monthly minimum pension amount to Rs 2,000 under the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS). The Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision-making body of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), was apprised of the proposal's rejection during a meeting on Saturday. "According to the recommendations made by a highly-empowered monitoring committee constituted by the government, a proposal to increase the minimum pension under EPS from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per month, by providing additional budgetary support, was sent to the ministry of finance.
'The government should come back as a job creator as it did in the 1960s and the 1970s.'
Cabinet may take up amendments to 3 laws on Wednesday; but no relaxed retrenchment norms yet.
Three years after India declared its goal to become a net-zero economy by 2070, the policy design for achieving the target has begun, with the NITI Aayog forming dedicated multi-sectoral committees to prepare a transition plan. In 2021, India joined a select group of nations that set a target year for becoming net-zero carbon economy. At COP26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined a five-pronged 'Panchamitra' climate action target for India and committed to a net-zero target by 2070, joining nations like the US, the UK, and China.
Take a look at the effect of labour strikes on businesses.
Concerned with the continuous downward revision, the EPFO has since last month begun counting people quitting their previous jobs and joining a new one as an addition to the net payroll.
Launching the scheme, Modi said during the nationwide lockdown, the talent from cities returned to villages and it will now give a boost to development of rural areas. The 'Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan' will be implemented on a mission mode in 125 days in 116 districts of six states -- Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha -- that received the maximum numbers of migrant workers back.
The employment rate in the country declined marginally from 39.2 per cent to 38.6 per cent between 2009-10 and 2011-12, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
India Inc on Thursday pitched for lowering income tax burden on common man, increase in capital expenditure, and firm steps to contain food inflation in their nearly two-hour long interaction with finance minister Nirmala Shitharaman ahead of the Union Budget. During pre-Budget consultation with Sitharaman, the industry leaders and associations also urged the government to focus more on infrastructure development with a view to maintaining the economic growth momentum. The industry leaders also laid stress on boosting the MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) sector, considered a backbone of the Indian economy and main employment generator.
E-retailer Flipkart has signed a memorandum of understanding with the labour ministry for short-term training of its new employees.
'Mr Minister, it has been more than five years for your government. There is no job creation. Whatever jobs were there, they have been snatched due to the economic slowdown brought by the government. You want to escape by insulting North Indians'
With a large number of Indian youth aspiring to work in the railways, delays in filling up railway job vacancies were a point of criticism against the BJP in the run-up to the elections.
Major portfolios like home, finance and education were on Tuesday allocated to People's Democratic Party ministers by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed who will himself hold the charge of home ministry.
However, demand was still much higher compared to the previous years, underlining the scheme's vital role in providing employment to the rural poor, a vast majority of whom are migrants.
The active cases comprise 2.04 per cent of the total infections.
Units employing up to 49 workers are not required to list themselves with the government.
A senior official in the central labour commissioner's office said the efforts of the government were to resolve the cases amicably and not to press for legal action against employers. "Everyone is going through tough times. We could initiate legal action if we want but that's not the idea. We want to address the issues amicably," the official said.
The proposed changes to the child labour law to allow children and adolescents to work for their families would be most retrograde and regressive, say Shinzani Jain and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
The Centre is confident of meeting employment creation target of ten million jobs during the current financial year, Union Labour Secretary P D Shenoy said.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday gave his assent to Rajasthan's amendment to three laws -- the Factories Act, Industrial Dispute Act and Contract Labour Act.
The labour ministry notification banning employing children below 14 years as domestic helps or at eateries, came into force even as the children had little to cheer about in the absence of a comprehensive rehabilitation package.
'The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill' makes employment of children below 14 years as cognisable offence for employers and provides for penalty for parents.
The Leader of Opposition assured the parents of raising the issue in Parliament.
The Ministry of Labour had recently issued a notification to this effect giving three-month mandatory notice and it has now warned that anyone employing children would be liable to prosecution and other penal action under the Act, it said.
Labour ministry guidelines say workers returning to cities must get housing, health insurance, facemasks. The Centre has also asked states to issue guidelines to employers to take care of the needs of migrant workers.
Under the plan being worked out, the labour component of the railway projects, which include the expansion of train lines or conversion of line gauge, would be funded from NREGS, as most of these projects require a large labour force and generate employment opportunities in rural areas.
Fresh formal job creation cooled for the second consecutive month to decline to a six-month low in September, signalling a downturn in the labour markets this financial year. The number of new monthly subscribers under the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) declined by 6.45 per cent to 891,583 in September from 953,092 in August, shows the latest payroll data released by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Besides, the net payroll additions -- calculated by taking into account the number of new subscribers, the number of exits, and the return of old subscribers -- increased by 14.9 per cent to 1.72 million in September from 1.49 million in August.
On the eve of the Modi government's two years in office, the RSS-linked Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha leadership met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. After the meeting, the BMS claimed the FM told its delegation 'the government has realised that labour reforms are not essential for industrial growth in the country.'
The reservation would include a 10 per cent horizontal quota for Agniveers in the posts of constable, mining guard, forest guard, jail warden, and special police officers.
'The Budget needs to focus more on social welfare schemes.'
'The race is now on for Indian IT firms to develop their AI prowess and focus on a software-first approach to services as the people element becomes more complicated with Trump's expected new regulations.'
Except for laws pertaining to the payment of minimum wages, following safety norms and adequate compensation for workers in case of industrial accidents, no other provisions of the labour law would apply to all new companies that wish to operate in the state for at least 1,200 days, and for those that have already been operational for that period.
FIFA is not responsible for the working conditions of labourers helping to build stadiums for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar, the president of world soccer's governing body Sepp Blatter said.
However, there will be no inter-state movement of workers during the lockdown, which has been extended till May 3.
India's consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation could ease in the coming months thanks to the arrival of kharif crops, lower international commodity prices, and a pass through of lower input costs to consumers, the finance ministry said in its Monthly Economic Review (MER) for October, which was released on Thursday. The MER, however, warned that the global macroeconomic situation remained precarious and a recession in many advanced economies would impact India's exports. "Easing international commodity prices and new Kharif arrival are set to dampen inflationary pressures in the coming months.
Ramesh opposes Pawar's plan to provide cheap labour to farmers under NREGS.
The Centre has taken a major step towards increasing efficiency in decision-making by empowering joint secretaries to report to secretaries directly, officials said on Wednesday.
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