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The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector has recommended formulation of two Bills: Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Bill, 2005 and Unorganised Sector Workers (Conditions of Work and Livelihood Promotion) Bill, 2005. Addressing a Press Conference here today, the acting Chairman of the Commission, Dr. K. Jayashankar said that the rationale underlying this division of the Bills was to ensure a smooth and effective implementation of the proposed legislation, in view of the fact that the objectives sought to be achieved through these two Bills were different in nature. Elaborating the provisions of the two Bills, he said that the Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Bill 2005 will cover all workers in the unorganized sector with a monthly income of Rs. 5,000/- and below. The number of workers is estimated to be around 30 crores. The financial implications of the proposed Social Security Scheme for all the 30 crores workers would be to Rs. 32,850 crores of which the share of the Central Government would be Rs. 17,548 crores and that of the State Government Rs. 5010 crores. This adds up to a total of Rs. 22,558 crores. This is equivalent to 0.8 per cent of the GDP of the country in 2004-05. Taking into account administrative expenses, as well as expenses for capacity building and related activities, the upper boundary of the public outlay on the scheme would not exceed 1% of the GDP, he added.
The second Bill i.e. Unorganised Sector Workers (Conditions of the Work and Livelihood Promotion) Bill, 2005 seeks to address the question of conditions of work for wage workers in the unorganized sector with a view to providing a basic minimum standard on hours of work, payment of minimum wages and adherence to Bonded Labour Abolition Act and Child Labour Prohibition & Regulation Act, he said. As for self-employed workers, the Draft Bill has proposed various measures for protection and promotion of livelihoods. These relate to the provision of credit, right to common property and natural resources, use of public space to engage in economic activities and encourage the promotion of associations of self employed workers.
Dr. Jayashankar felt that these two Bills taken together, would go a long way in creating a much needed floor for providing a measure of social security as well as minimum acceptable standards with regard to conditions of work. These Bills would be complementary to the Bill on Employment Guarantee.
MG/AKS/NSR
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