'Finance ministry impeding Unorganised Workers Bill'

Forming a major chunk of the economy, the unorganised sector in India accounts for 60 per cent of the GDP, 50 per cent of the country's savings and 38 per cent of all export earnings, the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), said.

The ministry has been thwarting attempts to introduce the Bill in parliament as it will bring an additional financial burden, the organisation said.

The Bill, SEWA officials said, was to be tabled in the ongoing parliament session, but this has not been possible because it is being opposed at the Cabinet level by the ministry.

"It is rather unfortunate that the Bill is not being tabled in the present session of parliament. We are given to understand that the finance ministry is not in favour of the Bill being tabled as it will cost more to the exchequer," said Renana Jhabvala, national co-ordinator of SEWA and chairperson of SEWA Bank.

She said although the Group of Ministers (GoM) has given its green signal to the Bill, the Cabinet has not cleared it for tabling before the parliament because the labour ministry has sought Rs 100 crore as an initial funding for its implementation.

Consultations for drafting the Bill began late last year between the government, various NGOs and industry members.

Suggestions were sought from various quarters and SEWA gave a comprehensive list of proposals. Later, the labour ministry drafted a Bill early this year and sent it to all ministries for suggestions and objections.

The draft was sent to the Planning Commission also. After all ministries had responded, a final draft was re-formulated by the labour ministry. The draft then went to the Cabinet, where it was deliberated upon in detail.

With the finance ministry disagreeing on certain issues, a GoM, headed by the deputy prime minister L K Advani, was formed to provide suggestions.

In July-August this year, the GoM cleared the bill, which was again referred to the Cabinet, where it is lying because of objections by the finance ministry, SEWA officials said.

Some of the suggestions that SEWA made as the Bill was being drafted included covering workers of the sector under the prevailing labour laws, introducing social protection clauses, making provisions for them in the macro policy framing like the annual budget and considering the sector actively while formulating policies.

Jhabvala said since none of those in the unorganised sector were covered under the existing labour laws, steps should be initiated to provide social protection and safeguards like health insurance and old age facilities such as pension and provident fund.

"Also, there are no provisions made for workers in macro-economic policies like budgets," the chairperson said.

The suggestions to the Union finance ministry also include setting up of tripartite boards for implementation of the proposed Act for the unorganised sector.

"We have stated in our recommendations that implementation of the Act should be by a statutory body represented by trade unions, voluntary organisations and self governing bodies. We do not want the government to implement this alone," said Jhabvala.

She said the government and the workers must also contribute towards a fund that will be set up.

Another important suggestion that SEWA has made for the proposed Act is that each worker from the unorganised sector must be given an identification card.