No proposal to amend law on unorganized sector workers: govt

Government today said tripartite consultations are being held for amendment of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, with regard to National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) as proposed in National Manufacturing policy.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment also said there was no proposal to amend the legislation on unorganised sector workers nor to open computer training centres at the tehsil level to provide free computer training to unemployed youth.

"Tripartite consultations are being held for amendment in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, in regard to National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) as proposed in National Manufacturing policy," Minister of State for Labour and Employment Vishnu Deo Sai told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

"There is no such proposal at this moment," Sai said to another question on whether the government has any proposal to amend the legislation on unorganised sector workers.

"As per information recieved from Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the government has no such proposal," the minister said while replying to a question on whether the government proposes to open computer training centres at tehsil level.  He said according to a data compiled by National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), about 75 lakh persons were given skill development training in 2013-14 while under the national policy for skill development, a target of skilling 5 crore people has been set during the 12th Five Year Plan.

In reply to another question, he said a national social security fund announced in general budget for 2010-11 has been set up with an initial allocation of Rs 1,000 crore.

The fund supports social security schemes for various segements of unorganised workers and his ministry has been designated as the nodal ministry for the operation of the fund.

The schemes related to health and maternity benefit, life and disability cover, old-age protection or any other scheme as determined by central government are proposed to be funded for unorganised workers.

Giving figures, the minister said NSDF fund flow to NSDC for skilling for 2014-15 was 20,000 lakhs.

8.13 lakh persons have been skilled under various schemes across ministries in 2014-15 against a tentative target of 103 lakhs.  Sai said NSDA has been working closely with state skill development missions for convergence of efforts at the state level through different state-level engagements like state visits and regional level workshops.

Further elaborating, the minister said the government notified the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) in December 2013 to create flexible delivery mechanisms that respond to the dynamic needs of diverse stakeholders and to develop a high quality skilled workforce.

He said  NSQF is a quality assurance framework that will enable greater vertical and horizontal moblity for the workforce within and outside teh country.

He said that being an outcome-based framework, NSQF will also create opportunities for acquiring skills throughout one's life.