Central sphere establishments such as railways, mines, ports and oil fields have more than doubled their contract workers’ count to 2.43 million in four years till 2021, Parliament was informed Monday.
The number of such employees in the central sphere was just 1.17 million in 2018 and had been on the rise each year, barring in 2020, minister of state for labour & employment Rameswar Teli informed Lok Sabha.
Replying to a written question on the number of permanent vacancies available in various central government departments, the minister pegged it at 0.87 million, as on March 2020, down from 0.91 million in the year-ago period.
Teli said the number of contract labourers engaged in the central sphere, based on the licences and registration certificate issued under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, is maintained by the union labour ministry. But no such bifurcated data like industry and state-wise of contract workers is maintained centrally.
The minister also said the data on the number of casual workers and their wages are maintained by respective organisations — central government, states/union territories, central public sector units and autonomous bodies etc — that employ them based on the requirement.