Under pressure from the Left parties, the government in Wednesday said the much-awaited Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Bill, 2007 is likely to be introduced in the forthcoming session of Parliament. The Bill was supposed to be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament.
The Bill, which would introduce a pension scheme along with a host of social security benefits for the 40 crore unorganised sector workers?constituting 93% of the country?s total workforce?was been cleared by the Cabinet earlier this year.
Minister of State for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes said the proposed legislation would entail constitution of tripartite social security advisory boards at the national and state levels.
The schemes proposed under the Bill would pertain to life and disability cover, health insurance and maternity benefits and old age protection.
The Bill is in pursuance of the commitment made in the National Common Minimum Programme (for ensuring welfare and well being of workers, particularly those in the unorganized sector), Fernandes said.
The financial requirement for providing all the social security benefits like pension and healthcare facilities to workers in the unorgansied sector is estimated to cost the government coffers around Rs 25,000 crore.
The finance ministry had said that they would not provide any subsidy for launching the pension scheme. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also emphasised the need for a comprehensive pension system for the workers in the unorganised sector.
?This large labour force functions without any options for their old age. At present, only 11 per cent of the workforce is covered under some form of pension schemes. Within the organized sector, the coverage is accounted for largely by government employees. Therefore, workers in the unorganised sector, constituting 90 per cent of the workforce, need a comprehensive pension system, which they can subscribe to,? Singh had said.
The UPA government had faced flak from trade unions, most of them affiliated to Left parties, for the delay in introducing the Bill. The TUs are also unhappy about the fact that the Bill in its present form simply lists the enabling provisions for the unorganised sector workers and has no specific details about implementation and modalities of payment.
They pointed out that though the Bill suggests setting up of a national fund, there is no mention as to who would contribute to the fund and how much. Another difficulty was identification of the employer in the unorganised sector.