V Shankar
The Unorganised Sector Workers’ Social Security Bill, 2007 is expected to be tabled in the monsoon session of the Parliament that is due to begin on 01 July 2007. This is the most diluted version of the original draft prepared by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) that was established in September 2004 for the purpose of focusing on this sector. NCEUS was asked to prepare draft bills on unorganized labour in pursuance of observations and recommendations made by the Second National Commission on Labour (1999). The Labour Commission’s observations included aspects of low productivity, very meager wages and the near absence of social security among unorganized workers. NCEUS prepared two bills, one on regulation of employment, which has been put under cold-storage, and another one on social security. The bill on social security that went through revisions after revisions by Group of Ministers and various other arms of the state, has finally been accorded cabinet approval on 24 May 2007. According to Mr.Arjun Sengupta, the chairman of the NCEUS, which proposed the original draft, the revised bill has “whittled down the Commission’s recommendations beyond recognition”. The criticism on NCEUS drafts themselves have not yet died down and the government has come out with a bill which is much worse. Unfortunately, the government is not even prepared to keep its proposed new bill for public scrutiny and is not even available on the government website.
According to a survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in the year 1999-2000, the total number of workers in the country was 39.7 crores and out of which 36.9 crores were employed in the unorganized sector and the remaining 2.8 crores in the organized sector. By proposing a social security bill only for non-agricultural, unorganized sector workers, the government has cleverly evaded the question of comprehensive legislation and social security for agricultural labourers who constitute a vast majority of 23.7 crore among the unorganized labour. On the other hand, the consistent demand of the trade union and working class movement in the country is to formulate comprehensive legislations for agricultural labour and unorganized sector workers covering both aspects of regulation of employment and social security. In fact, earlier the NDA government came up with a single bill that combined both unorganized and agricultural workers and after much protest from left parties, trade unions and agricultural labour organizations, the UPA put up a posture of relenting and asked the NCEUS to prepare two separate bills which it did. The agricultural labour bill prepared by the NCEUS, which is however equally bad, has not been considered by the UPA. And also the Congress-led UPA Government is silent on the other bill on regulation of employment and promotion of livelihood of unorganized workers. A press communiqué dated 4 June talks about the cabinet nod only for social security bill and about the ‘way paved’ for some other bill which is promised to be introduced ‘as early as possible’.
Although the bill on social security of unorganized sector workers is expected to be introduced, it appears to be nothing more than a statement of intent. Mere intentions and tall talks cannot fill the empty stomach of toiling millions and the government is precisely trying to evade the real life questions by not proposing any fruitful scheme in the bill itself, thereby making the schemes and social security not mandatory. The so-called social security bill for unorganized sector workers has proposed neither any scheme nor any universal coverage of all unorganized workers, rather it has only said that it will be implemented in a phased manner. In fact, the bill wants to make known the intention of announcing different varieties of welfare schemes to different kinds of unorganized labour only in a process. The act which was supposed to be more concrete and specific, to be more realistic and down-to-earth has suddenly become “philosophical” defying space and time. In this pace of events, complete coverage of welfare schemes of all unorganized workers may even take endless, infinite number of years. The original proposal of universality of schemes to all unorganized workers has been vetoed down by the Finance Minister and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.
The bill has nothing else to propose but for formation of a National Advisory Board whose suggestions will only be recommendatory in nature and not mandatory. Similar advisory boards will also be formed at state level but only at an unspecified future date. Even the composition of the board is not known. The board is expected to recommend schemes and the government is to notify them as it deems fit. Once it is notified, then comes the role of the National Advisory Board which will monitor some aspects of implementation of the scheme, including registration of workers, issuing of ID cards, monitoring the record keeping functions at various levels, etc. In other words, instead of legal entitlement of the individual worker this bill seeks to empower a bureaucratic outfit to deliver welfare schemes and social security at its own discretion.
Worse still, the bill does not talk about the source of the fund even. According to Mr.Arjun Sengupta, the original bill would require a fund allocation of 2% of GDP, i.e., Rs.82000 crore or 12% of the entire expenditure projected in the Budget 2007-2008. The proposed scheme is estimated to be put in operation with an expenditure of Rs.25000 crore over a period of five years as the entire lot of agricultural labourers is removed from the purview of the bill. On the contrary, the trade union movement has been demanding 3% of GDP to be earmarked for the purpose of welfare schemes if some minimum justice is to be done to the most exploited workforce. This is the sorry state of affairs of the class that constitute one third of the entire population and contributes two-thirds of the national income.
Moreover, the proposed scheme is contributory in nature and not similar to defined benefits schemes like ESI or PF. NCEUS suggested no contribution for BPL (Below Poverty Line) workers and a very minimum contribution for APL (Above Poverty Line) workers. The government was to deposit the share of BPL workers as well along with its own share, apart from that of the state governments. It also talked about cess to be collected from employers to source the fund. Instead of constructively accommodating suggestions on the bill prepared by the NCEUS, the proposed bill does not say anything on the source of the fund and shares of each contributing party. This is sufficient to say that the bill is nothing more than a mere statement of intent and is nothing but hoodwinking crores of unorganized workers in the country.
The schemes to be notified by the central government will include life and disability cover, health benefits and old-age pension. Other issues of workers will not be addressed and depends on the whims and fancies of the rulers which will not be regulated by the law. Even the proposed so-called benefits are more of the variety of insurance schemes in nature which can very well be handled by any insurance company. One does not need a government to do it. But the government is shedding crocodile tears because it is eyeing the hard earned small savings of the unorganized workers that was earned through sweat and labour. In spite of all these, it is talking only about paying a paltry sum of Rs.200 as monthly pension which can in no way support any senior citizen in his/her old age.
The bills on unorganised workers, both regulation of employment and social security, are attempts at providing human face to the inhuman policy of liberalization. Globalisation also warrants the national governments to pass some legislation in order to make the process effective. It’s not out of care and concern that the government is talking about social security for unorganized workers. On the other hand, the government is also relieving industrialists/capitalists of the responsibility of taking care of one’s own workforce and is substituting them with government schemes. This is clear from the absence of stringent provisions in the proposed bill to regulate industrial relations including aspects like job security and minimum wages. Unorganised sector workers bills are also part of the process of changing labour market conditions suitable to the era of liberalization whose single motivation is to increase the profit of multinational and monopoly corporate houses. It is also an attempt to smoothen the negative effects of the inhuman labour market conditions which may otherwise result in uncontrollable outburst and rebellion.