Changes made in labour laws, trade unions criticise -- NEWS
The amendments to the Factories Act, the Apprentices Act and the Labour Laws (exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining registers by certain establishments) Act were approved by Cabinet last night.
The Cabinet has given its approval (for the amendments). The amendments would be beneficial for the labourers," Labour Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said here today. "We expect that it will be tabled in the present session of Parliament," he added.
Among the changes made in the laws are relaxing of certain norms to enable women to work in night shifts, doubling the provision of overtime from 50 hours per quarter to 100 hours in some cases and from 75 hours to 125 hours in other work of public interest and others.
According to Minister of State Labour and Employment Vishnu Deo Sai, the amendment to the Factories Actwas to make it more compatible to the requirement of the present scenario in industrial sector. However, trade unions critisized the "hasty, employer-friendly amendments" in the name of development and are likely to meet soon to decide action programme against it.
"Under the cover of so-called gender parity, the amendments said that women can work in night shifts. We feel that in the Indian context, the time has not come for us that we can leave our sisters and daughters so that they work in night shifts. We are against that. Congenial atmosphere is still not there so as to let women work the night shifts," said AITUC Secretary D L Sachdev.
Talking about the provision for doubling the overtime hours from 50 per quarter, he said that through this, more liberty is being given to the employer.
"While AITUC is not opposed to simplification process per se in maintaining registers and sending returns for each Act for small and medium enterprises, it opposes increasing the ambit of such industries from 10 to 40 workers. It should have been done gradually," he said.
On Apprentice Act, no provision has been made for monitoring breach by provisions of the employers, he said.
According to an amendment proposed in the Apprentices Act, it will now not be compulsory for an employer to absorb 50 per cent of the apprentices as permanent employees.
Another amendment to the Act will enable to add 500 new skills and vocations in the industry, including those related to the IT sector. One of the amendments to the Factories Act states that now employees can avail leave with pay after completing 90 days in job. The earlier stipulation was 240 days.
A New Programme of Financial Inclusion - opportunity to Gramin Dak Sevaks -- NEWS
Government to Launch A New Program of Financial Inclusion in Mission Mode to Provide Households with Facilities of Savings, Credit, Remittances, Insurance and Pension: FM
The Union Finance Minster Shri Arun Jaitley said that the Government is going to launch a new program of Financial Inclusion in Mission Mode which will provide households with facilities of savings, credit, remittances, insurance and pension among others. He said that this is a marked shift from earlier effort where only opening of account was the focus of the financial inclusion drive. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley was speaking after holding a meeting with theChief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Financial Institutions(FIs) here today.
The meeting was attended among others by Shri G.S. Sandhu, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Ms. Snehlata Shrivastva, Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Public Sector Banks and Financial Institutions and senior officers of Ministry of Finance.
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley further said that this time the Government is targeting the individual households rather than the village. He said that there are 7.5 crore households in the country who do not have bank account so far. The Finance Minister said that the Government is targeting that every village should get a banking facility within a reasonable distance and that every household should have at least one bank account within the time frame of one year. This is a big challenge and there are several difficulties like lack of connectivity and infrastructure facilities etc, the Minister added.
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that in our country where we have very low levels of financial literacy, it is essential that people understand the importance of availing financial services which will enable them to participate in the growth story. Therefore, financial literacy will receive a special emphasis in this new programme of financial inclusion, the Minister added.
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that technology has made rapid strides in recent times and, therefore, the Government must use technology, especially mobile based services in a big way to achieve the desired results. The Government has integrated provisions of access to banking facilities, account opening, financial literacy, credit availment, micro insurance and pension, the Minister added.
The Financial Inclusion Mission has two phases starting from 15thAugust this year. The first phase will get over by 14thAugust, 2015 and the second Phase by 14thAugust, 2018. Most of the activities will be done in Phase – I and insurance and pension would be covered in Phase – II.
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley added that the previous efforts did not involve the State Government and District administration. He said that this time the State Governments have been requested to achieve this ambitious task. There would be State level and District level Committees to monitor the progress under the plan, the Minister stated.
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that there was no pull factor in the earlier campaign where people could demand access of banking facilities in their villages. He added that under the Mission
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley stated that in the past, the Know Your Customer (KYC) process was very cumbersome. This has now been eased and the e-KYC facility has been introduced in the banks.
Comparison between Old Financial Inclusion Programme and New Programme.
Old Program
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New Program
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Village based approach for villages where population greater than 2000 (Limited Geography)
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Households in all villages
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Only Rural
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Both Rural and Urban
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Fixed Point BC in each SSA comprising of 3 to 4 villages. This visit other villages in the SSA on fixed days.
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Focus on opening of Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDA)
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Focus on Financial Literacy, opening of BSBDA Account, Convergence with other subsidy schemes& Micro Insurance/Pension, RuPay Debit Card, USSD Scheme, Kisan Credit Card
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Monitoring by banks
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Monitoring Mechanism at Centre, State, District level. Active participation of state and district emphasized.
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Operation of Accounts offline; separate server.
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Accounts on line ‘on CBS of banks. Provision of RuPay Card to each account holder giving him freedom to operate anywhere
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Besides above, the following decisions were also taken in today’s meeting of the CEOs of Public Sector Banks and Financial Institutions which was chaired by the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley.
- New emphasis on fixed point Business Correspondents (BCs) like :
o Common Service Centres (CSCs)
o Gramin Dak sevaks
o PDS shops
o NBFCs
- Banks to explore the possibilities of installing ATMs in rural areas under RBI subsidy scheme
- Convergence with the efforts of UIDAI to enroll beneficiaries for Aadhar number during account opening
- Convergence with the efforts of other programmes of SHGs / JLGs
- e-KYC to be used for opening of accounts in the camps where Aadhaar number is available
- Financial literacy material would be standardized by IBA
- Logo / tagline of the plan to be used on all correspondence material for one year
- Overdraft facilities would be after satisfactory operation
- Grievance redressal cell at State level by State Level Banker’s Committee(SLBC)
- In order to ensure viability of BCs Banks would start a financing scheme
- Banks would take Micro ATMs which are Aadhar enabled
- All Pass book based KCCs to be enabled on Rupay card
- Mobile wallet cash points also to be used as BCs
- Monitoring mechanism strengthened.
- State Governments requested to depute an officer to SLBC for monitoring purpose
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