India doesn't ratify ILO convention on domestic workers:Govt

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India has not ratified International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on decent work for domestic workers as the national laws and practices are not in conformity with the provisions laid down by the global agency, Parliament was informed today.
"Government of India has not ratified ILO Convention No.189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
Elaborating further he said, "In India we ratify an ILO Convention only when the national laws and practices are brought fully into conformity with the provisions of the Convention in question.
"Since the national laws and practices are not in conformity with the provisions of the convention, India has not yet ratified the ILO Convention No.189."

About National Policy on Domestic Workers, he informed the House that the Policy is under active consideration of the government.
However, no time frame has been indicated to finalise the Policy, Dattatreya said.

He said, "The domestic work falls under the purview of state sphere. It is primarily the responsibility of states governments to take action for protecting people including domestic workers from exploitation."
The central government has enacted the Unorganised Sector Social Security Act, 2008 for providing social security to unorganised workers including domestic workers.
Minimum wages have been fixed for domestic workers by a number of states. Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) benefits have also been extended to various categories of workers including domestic workers, he added.

In another reply, the minister informed the House that as many as 1.79 lakh irregularities were detected under the Minimum Wage Act, till December this fiscal, compared to 2.7 lakh in 2013-14 and 2.9 lakh in 2012-13 under the central sphere.
As per minister's statement, the number of convictions under the Act was 1,041 during this fiscal till December compared to 5,074 in 2013-14 and 4,954 in 2012-13.
As many as 1,790 prosecutions were started during the current fiscal till December compared to 5,167 in 2013-14 and 5,307 in 2012-13.
The number of inspections conducted under the Act in central sphere were 4,852 till December 2014-15 as against 13,099 in 2013-14 and 15,550 in 2012-13.