Regional labour conference held in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Minister of State for Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar on Tuesday said both the Central and state governments are making coordinated efforts for the welfare of labourers.

He was addressing the Regional Labour Conference in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

Labour Ministers and senior officials of six states Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Andaman & Nikobar along with senior officials of the Labour Ministry participated in the conference.

Regional Conferences help in creating better coordination between Central and state governments.

The Minister said that any law can attain its goal with the proper implementation and it is the state governments which are implementing them on the ground.

Gangwar said that recently Government of India has taken many steps for the welfare of workforce of the country.

Code on Wages has been passed by Parliament in August this year and now State Governments should frame rules regarding Code on Wages, fix minimum wages and organize awareness campaign so that maximum number of unorganized sector workers may be benefitted, he added.

Code on occupational safety, health and working conditions have been sent to Parliamentary Standing Committee after being introduced in the Lok Sabha. This is also important legislation which subsumes 13 central labour laws and covers health, security and working conditions issues of the workers.

Apart from the simplification of labour laws, the union government has launched a pension scheme for unorganized sector workers and small traders and self-employed persons, the Minister informed.

He further said that the Ministry is using information technology to improve services of EPFO and ESIC and bring more transparency and accountability.

He expressed hope that the regional labour conference will be successful in creating better coordination with state governments.