LABOUR DEPARTMENT

The Labour & Employment Ministry is one of India's oldest and most significant government
ministries. The ministry’s main duty is to protect and protect the interests of workers in
overall and of those who constitute the poor, disadvantaged and disadvantaged sections of
society. At present, there are 44 labour related statutes enacted by the Central Government
dealing with minimum wages, accidental and social security benefits, occupational safety and
health, conditions of employment, disciplinary action, formation of trade unions, industrial
relations, etc. The list of Central Acts is annexed.

Few of the programmes mentioned are:

Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008':

The Unorganized Workers 'Social Security Act, 2008' was enacted in order to ensure the
welfare of workers in the unorganized sector which, inter-alia, includes weavers, handloom
workers, fishermen and fisherwomen, kids tappers, leather workers, plantation labour, beedi
workers. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, a National Social Security Board was
created to recommend the formulation of social security schemes.

'Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana':

On 01.10.2007 the 'Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana' (RSBY) was officially launched to
provide smart cards. Related cashless health insurance coverage of Rs.30, OOO/- for BPL
families (five units) per unorganized sector. Annum for family float. As of 01.04.2008 the
RSBY became operational. The premium is ratio shared of 75:25 The Center and the
Governments of States.

 Shram Suvidha Portal:

In order to bring transparency and accountability in enforcement of labour laws and ease the
complexity of compliance, Ministry of Labour & Employment has launched a unified Web
Portal ‘Shram Suvidha Portal’ on 16.10.2014, catering to four major Organisations under the
Ministry of Labour, namely
Office of Chief Labour Commissioner (Central),
Directorate General of Mines Safety,
Employees’ Provident Fund Organization; and
Employees’ State Insurance Corporation.
 Launching of the Shram Suvidha Portal has facilitated in bringing transparency and
accountability leading to better enforcement of the Labour Laws. Transparent Labour
Inspection Scheme has reduced the discretionary powers of the Inspectors and brought
transparency in the inspection system thus minimizing the harassment of employers.
The facility of Online registration for allotment of Unique Labour Identification Number
(LIN) and the Transparent Labour Inspection Scheme was started on the Portal with its
launch on 16.10.2014 itself.
 Simplification/ Reduction of Number of Registers to be maintained under various Central
Labour Laws: After examination by the Expert Committee constituted in the Ministry, it was
found that various establishments have to maintain about 79 Registers as provided under
various Central Labour Laws. Further, the information to be maintained under various
Registers can be rationalised and simplified by avoiding duplicity of information or deleting
redundant fields from the formats of the Registers. Moving forward, on this concept, the
common fields were amalgamated and some rationalised resulting in reducing 56 Registers to
5 Registers to be maintained by the establishments. A pre-publication Notification dated
04.11.2016 has been issued to amend the Rules of respective Labour Acts to modify the
format of Registers to be maintained. Simultaneously, software is being developed to provide
the facility of maintaining these Registers in digitised format for further reducing the efforts
in terms of time, human resource and money of the establishments.

Safety and Health and Workplaces:

The Constitution of India provides detailed provisions for citizens ' rights and also sets out
the State Policy Directive Principles which set the goal to guide the State 's activities. Based
on these guidelines and international instruments, the Government is committed to regulating
all economic activities relating to the management of safety and health risks. Government
recognizes that workers' safety and health have positive effects on productivity and on
economic and social development. Prevention is an integral part of economic activities,
because high occupational safety and health standards are as important as good business
performance for both new and existing industries.

STRENGTHENING OF TRIPARTISM:
Labor & Employment Ministry has endeavored to foster harmonious industrial relations in
the region. The Government, committed to the tripartism ethos and tradition, has taken steps
to revitalize it. The ministry continues to have consultations with the social partners to reach
consensus on the enactment of new laws or changes to existing laws. The objective of the
Ministry is to knit the views of all the social partners in framing the policy for working class.

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS:
Maintaining harmonious industrial relations remains an asserted goal of the Ministry of Labor
and Employment.
Because of the constant efforts of both the Centre and the States' industrial relations
machinery
Climate relations have remained largely friendly and cordial. There has been a rising increase
in the number of strikes and lockouts that were 456 in 2005. As regards the wise dispersion of
the incidences of strikes and lockouts in space / industry, there is widespread
Variation between Member States / UTs. Wage & Allowance, Bonus, Human Resources,
Indiscipline & Financial Violence
The main reasons for those strikes and lockouts are intermediaries (excluding insurance &
pension funds). Twenty-two industrial tribunals were formed in conjunction with the
industrial disputes 1947 Act for the adjudication of trade disputes in organisations for which
the Central Government is the responsible party governance.

A Social Work Angle:

The HIV/AIDS epidemic constitutes one of the most formidable challenges to development
and social progress. The epidemic exacerbates poverty and inequality, and increases the
burden on the most vulnerable people in society i.e. the elderly, the women, children and the
poor. Countries and organizations that do not respond in time have to bear huge costs on
public and private sector enterprises through declining productivity, loss of skilled and
experienced labour and increased expenditures on employee treatment and associated costs as
the demand for public services increases. National economies, as seen in the severely affected
regions like the sub-Saharan Africa, have experienced the impact on virtually every sector.