ENGLISH SHORTHAND DICTATION - 97

Hon. Speaker Sir, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak on these three historic Codes. I strongly believe that these reforms will certainly transform the way the world looks at various labour issues in India. We are confident that these reforms would further push us upwards in ease of doing business in our country, help in attracting more FDI, and attract companies who want to migrate, especially from China. Sir, codifying 44 labour laws into just four Codes is a Herculean task and I compliment the hon. Labour Minster for this noteworthy contribution. I also compliment him for accepting as many as 175 recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Labour. The House must be aware that¹²⁰ we had already passed one Code on wages and the remaining three are before the House for consideration and approval.¹⁴⁰ It really pained me that as many as ten labour unions in the country have gone to the International Labour¹⁶⁰ Organization complaining against the Government of India. Their main contention is that, without consulting these labour unions, the Government has gone forward in framing these Codes but it is really unfortunate that we ourselves are taking our internal affairs to the international bodies without any rhyme or reason. If I remember correctly, I am saying this because I have been following these Codes since their draft stage. There were as many as nine tripartite consultations and ten inter-ministerial consultations on²⁴⁰ these Codes. Many suggestions came from the public, and others. I would like to express my views on each Code. I will start with the Code on Social Security, 2020. We have been waiting since a couple of decades to²⁸⁰ see this Bill come up. There are nine enactments on social security. A poor labourer does not know to which Act he has to refer. If there is any issue, he has to run from pillar to post to get³²⁰ justice. But now, with all these nine enactments amalgamating in one Code, it becomes easy for each and every worker to refer to one single legislation for all his problems relating to the social security. So, it is really welcome.³⁶⁰ The second point of this Code covers the gig workers and the platform workers. We have so far kept them outside as far as social security is concerned. Many of us are not aware of these gig workers and the platform workers. Clause 2 defines who constitute gig workers. A gig worker is a person who performs work or participates⁴²⁰ in work arrangements, and earns some money which is outside the conventional employee-employer relationship. There are almost 1.5 million gig workers in the country, working in delivery start-ups or as a driver partner in Ola, Uber, e-commerce companies, etc. The other new category of the workforce is the ‘platform workers’ which is defined under Section 2. The platform workers are⁴⁸⁰ those who are on the online platform to access organisations or individuals to provide specific services. So, including these two categories, and providing them social security is also welcome. Here, one of the main problems is registration of workers. There are lakhs of workers who do not know about the benefits given by the Government of India. For example, under Clause 114 of this Bill, there are exclusive schemes for gig workers and platform workers. But unless and until,⁵⁶⁰ they get registered, they cannot avail these benefits. So, I suggest for consideration of the hon. Minister to take up the registration of gig workers and platform workers on a mission mode so that we can see all of them covered⁶⁰⁰ under the social security benefits. We have been talking about unemployment, and how our GDP is getting low. We need to address the problem of unemployment. I would like to give you a fair example of how our Government in⁶⁴⁰ Andhra Pradesh is tackling the system of unemployment under the pragmatic leadership of our Chief Minister. We have created a formula of Village Secretariat for every 50 households. We have set an all-time record, and generated 4 lakh jobs in a span of four months. The next point I wish to make is relating to the constitution of the⁷⁰⁰ Board of Trustees of the EPFO. In Clause 4, it is said that 15 Members from State Governments would be appointed⁷²⁰ by the Central Government. It means that it is up to the Government of India to appoint whoever it wishes. In such a case, if it happens to be the NDA in power, it will certainly deny representation on the Board for the Opposition parties, and it will also happen vice versa. I would request the hon. Minister to appoint 15 Members from State Governments on rotation basis so that all the States could be given the opportunity. Same is⁷⁰⁰ the case with Clause 5 and Clause 6. So, I would request the hon. Minister to appoint them on rotation basis. I would like to make one more point regarding the superannuated bank employees. If the hon. Minister of Finance⁸⁴⁰ is present here, she can understand the context. We have discussed about the retired bank employees earlier also. I would like to know why the records of bank pensioners have not been updated. Where will the retired bank employees go? Have they not strived for building of our nation? So, I request the Government to look into this matter of superannuated bank employees and quickly update their records.

            

I come to the Industrial Relations Code. As I said in my introductory remarks, implementation of labour reforms is the need of the hour in our country. There are as many as 100 labour laws in the country and most of the companies find it impossible to follow this myriad of laws.⁹⁶⁰ So, these four Codes would be handy and easy to interpret. The workers and the unions have been opposing Clause⁹⁸⁰ 28 of this Bill which says that any establishment which employs less than 300 workers can hire and fire workers without any permission from the Government. I feel it is too harsh a provision and simply tripling the number from 100 to 300 is not justified. I urge the Minister to withdraw this Clause because a company which employs 300 workers is not a small company. So, we also need to look after the job security of the workers. Earlier, the same provision was removed from the Bill of 2019. But I do not understand why it has been brought¹⁰⁸⁰ back in this particular Bill. My next point is about the fixed term contract. There is no doubt that the Code provides that the fixed term employee will get all the benefits like that of a permanent worker, such as¹¹²⁰ gratuity and other social security benefits. But the Government is allowing the companies to hire workers for short term instead of appointing them permanently or even on contract basis. The companies will hire people only during the season and fire them once the work is over. The companies mostly prefer to hire majority of their workers on contract basis. Moreover, in a country like India which has a huge labour force, this will only add to the problems of the¹²⁰⁰ workers. When we fall into the same vicious cycle of unemployment, it will certainly lead to lower GDP also. I would like to give one more example here. Even in Government undertakings like ONGC, employees like field operators, executives, and paramedics are being appointed only on contract basis. So, I request the Government of India to absorb them permanently in¹²⁶⁰ their organisation. I would like to make a few points relating to Andhra Pradesh and I would request the hon.¹²⁸⁰ Minister to consider all these points and take appropriate action for resolution. There are only 38 ESI empanelled private hospitals in Andhra Pradesh. More private hospitals are needed to be empanelled. I would request the hon. Minister to kindly share the present status of these hospitals which are to be started.

Hon. Chairperson Sir, in addition to being a Member of this august House, I am also the Vice Chairman of the Amara Raja Group. We manufacture the Amaron brand of automotive and industrial batteries. We have been in the business for 30 years now. All our factories are in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, where we employ more than 16,000 people and all of them are in non-migratory jobs.¹⁴⁰⁰ Ninety percent of them are from the local district and eighty percent are in the first job in the history of their families. These are my credentials to be speaking on this subject. Since we are combining three Bills together,¹⁴⁴⁰ I request that I may be provided some extra time so that I can get all the points across to the Minister. There is no doubt that this is a humongous exercise because it is not a child’s play to bring nearly 45 enactments together and guide more than a hundred other enactments being implemented by various States. So, without any hesitation, I compliment the hon. Labour Minister for his stupendous work on these Codes. I start with the Social Security Code relating to the methodology of computation of PF and insurance contribution under clause 78. I suggest that these should be calculated on basic wages and not include commission or performance-based bonus, business expenses, leave encashment, etc. So, they may be removed from the definition of ‘wages’. It will help employees in taking more salary home. In Clause 2, definition of ‘wages’ is inconsistent compared to our present definition of ‘wages’ under labour laws. This may lead to further¹⁶⁰⁰ liability to employers when calculated under different benefits.