| The National Commission for Enterprises in Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) has called for setting up of a National Labour Code to streamline all the labour laws existing in various forms in the country.
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| The commission has also called for more flexibility in labour laws so as to benefit both the employees and employers.
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| “There are several labour laws in the country which have their own definition of worker, terms and conditions. While we need a clear definition of all the labour terms, a uniform code at national level would also provide a framework under which various labour issues can be dealt without any overlap,” NCEUS chairman Arjun Sengupta and other members said at a social sector editors’ conference today.
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| The commission also wants an unemployment insurance mechanism, which would take care of the retrenched workers. The proposals would be highlighted by the commission in its forthcoming report on labour reforms.
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| “We are not proposing anything new. Such code was recommended by the National Labour Commission way back in 1969. Even the National Labour Lawyers’ Association (a professional body) had earlier voluntarily proposed such a code. The code as a compendium would harmonise the set-up instead of multiple laws governing the same sector as of now,” Kannan, member of the commission, told Business Standard.
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| According to the commission, even some of the developing countries in the neighbourhood, like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, have such codes.
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| While the code would try to simplify the existing differences among various central laws by incorporating some reforms, the commission may not get into any review of laws state-wise. “Basically, the state laws are made on the patterns suggested by central laws, so we might not take up the issue state-wise,” Kannan said.
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| NCEUS, which says it is in consultation with employers and trade unions on labour reforms, said the report is expected within two months.
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| The commission, which was set up by the UPA government to look into various issues related to labour and unorganised sector, also held the view that the inflexibility exercised on various labour laws had, in fact, not affected the employment exercise in the country.
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| “We think that the inflexibility in labour laws has not really benefited the workers and also might have affected the growth rate. While we cannot completely liberalise the sector, we can at least reach an optimum level,” Sengupta said.
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| Sengupta also said that as all the labour laws were enacted because of long struggle by the workers, there was a need to take up the matter cautiously.
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| Giving credit to the UPA government for increasing the allocation for socio-economic development, Sengupta said that still 77 per cent of the people in the country were living on just Rs 20 per day. |
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