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Lok Sabha
Several initiatives have been taken to increase the coverage of the various welfare schemes and liberalize the schemes under the Beedi Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1976 There has been a steady increase in the expenditure on welfare of beedi workers which has risen from around Rs. 50 crore in 2000-01 to Rs. 88.88 crore in 2004-05. To meet the additional requirement of funds for financing this, the rate of cess levied on manufactured beedis has been enhanced from Rs. 2/- per thousand to Rs. 4/- per thousand with effect from April 1, 2005. With this enhancement, we would be able to garner an additional Rs. 70-75 crore per annum towards the welfare cess. This was stated by the Labour and Employment Minister, Shri K. Chandrasekhar Rao while responding to the Calling Attention Motion moved by Shri P. Karunakaran, MP in the Lok Sabha today.
Shri Rao said that health care is provided to the beedi workers and their dependents through 4 hospitals and 206 dispensaries all over the country. Three more hospitals, at Mukkudal in Tamilnadu, Sagar in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar Sharif in Bihar are nearing completion. In addition, libral reimbursement for medical expenditure on treatment of serious diseases like Heart ailments, kidney transplantation and Cancer etc. incurred in recognized hospitals are available. The maximum limit of reimbursement is Rs. 1.30 lakh for heart ailment, Rs. 2.00 lakh for kidney transplantation and for cancer the full cost of treatment is reimbursed. Women beedi workers are entitled to maternity benefit amounting to Rs. 1000/- upto two deliveries.
The Minister said that Group insurance scheme is being run for beedi workers wherein, benefit of Rs. 10,000 for natural death and Rs.25,000 on accidental death is payable. The beedi worker is not required to pay any premium towards this scheme. An amount of Rs. 33.59 has been spent towards health and medical care during 2004-05. The Government has also started a new scheme for providing a one time grant of Rs. 2.0 crore to State Governments or any other institution towards expanding existing hospital facility exclusively for beedi workers.
Shri Rao said that scholarships are provided to children of beedi workers studying in Class V and above in recognized institutions ranging from Rs. 500/- for Class V to Rs. 8,000/- for Professional Degree courses per child per annum. Around 4 lakh children of beedi workers were provided scholarships and an amount of Rs. 40.52 crore was spent on it during 2004-05.
Referring to Housing Scheme for Beedi workers, the Minister said that the scheme has been further liberalized and a “Revised Integrated Housing Scheme 2005” has been introduced from May 25, 2005 wherein a uniform central subsidy of Rs., 40,000/- is provided to a worker having his own land against a contribution by him of Rs. 5,000/- only. Earlier, Beedi Workers had to contribute a matching amount of Rs. 40,000/- to avail housing subsidy.
Regarding the Beedi Industry in Kerala, Shri Rao said that beedi manufacturing in the State is mainly done in factories run by the co-operative societies of beedi workers. In Kerala during the year 2004-05, scholarships to the children of beedi workers amounting to Rs. 1.55 crore have been granted. Similarly, 706 houses were sanctioned in Kerala during this period and a subsidy amounting to Rs. 1.2 crore was disbursed. There are 8 medical dispensaries to provide basic health care to beedi worker and their families. The Minister said that the Government of Kerala has informed that mainly because of unfair competition from units exempted from payment of Excise duty and cess as well as due to the enforcement of anti-smoking legislation, the consumption and production of beedis in Kerala has come down considerably and workers are not getting sufficient work. The Government of Kerala has set up a Committee to look into it and suggest remedial measures.
Beedi Industry in the country is primarily a rural based labour intensive industry, which provides employment to about 4.9 million workers mainly in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
MLD :LK/labour-83(beedi workers) Aug 8
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