Government to pare existing 44 labour laws into four

In a major push to labour reforms, the government is all set to pare existing 44 labour laws into four and a Bill will be tabled in Parliament in the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha beginning June 17.

"The 44 labour laws existing right now would be put in four categories. The Labour Ministry will bring a Bill in Parliament in the coming session," Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah.

The decision has been taken at an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah and attended by Gangwar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan.

Gangwar said the Bill will be possibly introduced in the second week of the session and would be the first Bill to be introduced in the Lok Sabha in the second term of the Modi government.

He said the draft bill will be placed before the Union Cabinet after which it will be introduced in Lok Sabha

The Minister said that all major labour unions in the country were consulted by the government before we took the decision to bring new labour laws.

The minister said out of the 44 laws, seven are redundant.

It is expected that the laws related to social security, including the Employees' Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, Employees' State Insurance Corporation Act, Maternity Benefits Act, Building and Other Construction Workers Act and the Employees' Compensation Act will be merged to create a single social security law or code.

Several industrial safety and welfare laws such as the Factories Act, the Mines Act and the Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, will be merged to create a single category on industrial safety and welfare.

The Minimum Wages Act, the Payment of Wages Act, the Payment of Bonus Act, the Equal Remuneration Act and a few others are likely to be merged.

The Labour Code on Industrial Relations will combine Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Trade Unions Act, 1926, and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.

The Modi government's move to bring new labour legislation is aimed at helping investors and expedite growth by merging the 44 existing laws into four categories that reportedly include wages, social security, industrial safety and welfare, and industrial relations, said officials.

--IANS

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