The Centre has, however, retained its proposal to curb flash strikes as workers in all factories will be required to give employers a strike notice of at least two weeks after the Bill becomes a law.
Infosys CEO Salil Parekh has indicated that offers given to freshers will be honoured by the company and followed with joining, although there has been some change in dates. The comments of Infosys top honcho assumes significance amid reports that the company has delayed onboarding of 2,000 fresh engineering graduates from 2022-batch.
At the 47th ILC, scheduled for February 26 and 27 in Delhi, trade unions and employers were to discuss key issues related to employment and social security coverage to workers
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 court emphasised that all parties must comply with Section 16 of the POSH Act, ensuring confidentiality of the identities involved.
The report highlights that India's population in 2036 is expected to be more feminine compared to the 2011 population, as reflected in the sex ratio which is projected to increase from 943 in 2011 to 952 by 2036, highlighting a positive trend in gender equality.
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
'If the BJP detoxifies the nuclear liability law, it will bring economic, environmental and, most of all, strategic benefits.' 'Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that this Budget promise is met soon -- ideally, before Mr Modi heads to his first meeting with Trump 2.0,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
The government has approved 8.1 per cent rate of interest on employees' provident fund (EPF) deposits for 2021-22 -- an over four-decade low -- for about five crore subscribers of retirement fund body EPFO. Earlier in March this year, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had decided to lower the interest on provident fund deposits for 2021-22 to 8.1 per cent from 8.5 per cent provided in 2020-21. According to an EPFO office order issued on Friday and reviewed by PTI, the Ministry of Labour and Employment has conveyed approval of the central government to credit 8.1 per cent rate of interest for 2021-22 to each member of the EPF scheme.
ILO acts upon a plea by 10 central trade unions objecting to the ordinances proposed to temporarily scrap labour laws in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, along with executive orders issued by at least 10 states to increase the daily working limit to 12 hours from eight hours, along with other labour law changes.
Single registration will be coupled with single licence, along with a single return, for executing projects for five years.
Total employment generated by nine select sectors stood at 3.10 crore in the July-September 2021 quarter, which is 2 lakh more than that of the April-June period, according to a quarterly employment survey by the labour ministry released on Monday. The quarterly employment survey (QES) report released by Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav said that total employment numbers in the nine select sectors were 3.08 crore in April-June 2021.
Retirement fund body EPFO on Thursday lowered the interest rate on Provident Fund deposits to 8.5 per cent for the current financial year, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said on Thursday.
According to draft Code on Social Security, 2019, gig and platform workers will be entitled to life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits, among others.
Suresh said the ministry had received several representations from the EPF pensioners Association, pointing to the meagre pension amount, which in some cases was about Rs 50 to Rs 300.
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.
The 44-year-old politician, who was among the final three contestants in the Labour Party's leadership contest against her boss in January 2020, has been serving in his shadow cabinet ever since.
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The ceiling of gratuity amount under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, has been raised from time to time keeping in view overall economic condition and employers' capacity to pay and the salary of employees, which have been increased in private sector and in PSUs.
'If it doesn't, it will continue with measures to infuse liquidity, signalling a new cycle,' predicts Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Apple iPhone maker Foxconn has informed the government that 25 per cent of its new hires are married women and its safety protocol, which requires all employees to avoid wearing metal irrespective of gender or religion, is not discriminatory, sources said. In an informal note shared with the government after reports suggested it is not hiring married women, Foxconn stated that such stipulations are not part of its policy and these claims may have been made by those individuals who were not hired, sources said.
'We need to take steps towards ease of doing business.'
Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a 70-year-old Punjab farmer leader, is on his 21st day of a hunger strike demanding the Indian government address farmers' concerns, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops. His health has deteriorated, and doctors have recommended immediate hospitalization. However, Dallewal, a cancer patient, has refused medical treatment.
Take a look at the effect of labour strikes on businesses.
Labour reforms have been pending in India for long.
Calling the Budget 2018 'anti-labour', the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh will observe February 20 as a 'black day'.
Unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years or above declined to 3.1 per cent in 2023, the lowest in the last three years, as per a report of National Sample Survey Organisation under the statistics ministry. According to Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for calender year 2023, the unemployment rate came down to 3.1 per cent in 2023 from 3.6 per cent in 2022 and 4.2 per cent in 2021. Joblessness, or unemployment rate, is defined as the percentage of unemployed people in the labour force.
The labour ministry has notified the more flexible investment pattern of 2008 for the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), but minus its provision for investment in equity.
A total of 11 flights have been delayed so far.
After assuming power in 2014 with a full majority of its own, the BJP-led NDA government started an ambitious process of reforming labour laws in the form of codes aimed at making the framework less cumbersome with a variety of alterations. It had planned four codes each for industrial relations, wages, social security and welfare, and occupational safety, health and working conditions. To this end, 35 central labour laws were to be converted into four codes that would have had the virtue of streamlining labour relations. But none of the proposed code Bills could be converted into a law principally because neither trade unions nor industry representatives came on board. They hold the key to India's low-growth-high unemployment paradigm but the government may struggle to push them through this time as well. Somesh Jha explains why
The ministry of labour & employment on Friday announced a hike in variable dearness allowance for more than 1.5 crore workers in the central sphere by Rs 105 to Rs 210 per month. The hike, which will be effective from April 1, 2021, will also result in an increase in rate of minimum wages for central sphere employees and workers. It will be for scheduled employment in central sphere and applicable to the establishments under the authority of central government, Railway administration, mines, oil fields, major ports or any corporation established by the central government. These rates are equally applicable to contract and casual employees/workers.
However, there will be no inter-state movement of workers during the lockdown, which has been extended till May 3.
The finance ministry expects a broad-based moderation in inflationary pressures on the back of an anticipated reduction in food prices as a result of the uptick in summer sowing. The retail inflation rate remained stubbornly clung to the 5 per cent mark in seven of the past eight months. "Core inflation is trending downwards, indicating a broad-based moderation in price pressures... Driven by strong domestic growth and benign global commodity prices, core inflation is declining continuously.
The government further defended its move to introduce fixed-term employment, insisting that the present system of hiring workers through contractors is exploitative.
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.
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.
From highways connecting once-remote regions to aviation networks carrying millions, India's infrastructure story is one of transformation.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour will recommend to the Union Ministry of Labour to frame laws so as to bring workers of the unorganised sector in the country under the social security net.
The finance ministry on Wednesday reimposed expenditure curbs on ministries and government departments for July-September quarter. There will be no spending restrictions on the ministries of health, rural development, agriculture, MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) and railways as part of a two-pronged strategy. "The existing guidelines for expenditure control have been reviewed. "Keeping in view the evolving situation arising out of Covid-19 and anticipated cash position of the government, it is felt essential to regulate Quarterly Expenditure Plan (QEP)/Monthly Expenditure Plan (MEP) of specific ministries/departments for July-September, 2021," the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry said in a notification.
The Union labour ministry has said that it can invest part of the Rs 5 lakh crore (Rs 5 trillion) provident fund corpus in the stock market provided the finance ministry guarantees safety of the workers' money.
