India's first attempt to introduce social security and other welfare schemes for workers in the unorganised sector, which constitutes an overwhelming majority of the country's workforce, has received Cabinet approval. But it will have to wait until the winter session of Parliament to be passed into law

The revised Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Bill 2007 has finally been approved by the Indian Cabinet. But it could not be introduced in the recently-concluded monsoon session of Parliament as planned as the House was adjourned four days ahead of schedule, on September 10. This means the passage of the long-awaited Bill will be delayed some more.

The Bill will facilitate the formulation of social security schemes for unorganised sector workers that comprise over 90% of India's workforce.

Cabinet also approved a health insurance scheme for below-the-poverty-line (BPL) workers and their families in the unorganised sector. "The beneficiaries will be issued smart cards for the purpose of identification," Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi said.

The Bill is expected to offer the same treatment to agricultural and non-agricultural unorganised workers, although several workers' bodies have made the point that these are two distinct categories with different problems. However, the government has promised to bring in a separate Bill on the working conditions of the two categories of workers at a later stage.

Mired in controversy following trade union protests on the grounds that an earlier version of it was inadequate, the Bill that has been approved by Cabinet addresses some if not all their concerns.

The earlier version of the Bill was noncommittal about schemes being offered to unorganised sector workers. All it envisaged was a national advisory board and state-level bodies that would, from time to time, formulate schemes for unorganised workers.

There was an uproar when Cabinet cleared it on May 24, with trade unions and communist parties threatening to go on strike if the Bill was cleared in that form.

Later, following a review by a group of ministers that concluded in the first week of September, the government put in place specific schemes that would get legislative assent from Parliament.

Crucially, financial commitments do not form part of the Bill. However, the government says spelling out schemes means an implicit financial commitment, one that it is not ready to make at this stage.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), which also met on September 9, gave its approval to the continuation of the Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) until the end of the current financial year, in March 2008. It granted Rs 445 crore to the REGP for this period.

Source: Business Standard, September 10, 2007
             PTI, September 6, 2007