Labour Ministers from the southern States will meet in Goa shortly to discuss the ‘pros and cons’ of the proposed amendments to labour laws introduced by the Union government, before submitting their opinion.
“Recently, the Union Minister for Labour had convened a meeting of Labour Ministers of all States in New Delhi to elicit their opinion on the proposed amendments to the labour laws. Then, the Labour Ministers of all the southern States decided to sit together, study and discuss the proposed amendments before giving their opinion. Accordingly, Labour Minister from Goa volunteered to host the meeting and it is likely to be convened very soon,” P.T. Parmeshwar Naik, Minister of State for Labour, told presspersons here on Tuesday.
He said that he was studying the proposed amendments besides asking the senior officials of his department to go through them thoroughly and submit a report. “After going through the proposed amendments and also the report, I will form my own opinion with a thrust on protecting the welfare and interest of labour class,” he added.
Mr. Naik said that the extension of Rashtriya Swastya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to the BPL families in the State had been temporarily withheld, as per the request of the Union Labour ministry, in view of the proposed amendments being brought to labour laws.
“The Union government was contemplating to introduce ‘U Win’ smart cards for extending all the benefits to the working class. So we were asked to withhold the issuance of RSBY cards here,” he said, adding that around 64 lakh BPL families had been enrolled under the RSBY scheme in the State.
Mr. Naik said that plans were afoot to fill up vacant posts.
