Second Round of Tripartite Consultations on EPF & MP Act Amendments Held
Bandaru Dattatreya Chairs Tripartite Consultations
The
Second Round of Tripartite Consultations on Employees Provident Fund
and Miscellaneous Provisions Act,1952 (EPF &MP Act) Amendments was
held here yesterday. Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State,
Labour & Employment (I/C) chaired the second round of tripartite
consultations on EPF & MP Act Amendments. The consultations gain
greater importance in view of the new amendments proposed in the
backdrop of the Union budget proposals impacting the functioning of
EPFO.
Inaugurating the consultations, Shri Dattatreya briefly
dwelt upon the major changes being mulled in the proposals. They include
bringing down the minimum no. of employees required for coverage under
the Act from the existing 20 to 10, doing away with the Schedule Head
for coverage and bringing in a negative list instead, special provisions
for encouraging the functioning of small-scale units, provisions for
setting up of multiple Appellate Authorities under the Act, removing
ambiguities in the implementation of the Act, ensuring greater clarity
in the definitions under the Act, especially with regard to wages which
qualify for deduction for the purposes of the Act, introducing greater
transparency and accountability in the enforcement of the Act by having
an objective inspection scheme, introducing a scheme for unorganized
workers and providing a choice to the worker by giving an option to join
NPS / EPFO, which is in tune with the proposals mentioned in the Union
Budget.
Taking part in the discussions, the representatives of
the employers’ associations and federations generally welcomed the
various proposals contained in the amendments under consideration. They
generally voiced the opinion that the introduction of NPS would mean
greater choice for the worker. However, there were also views that NPS
cannot match the benefits offered by EPFO and therefore, are not
comparable. It was also felt that the amendments would help in
sharpening the competitiveness of Indian Industry and would enable India
to become a manufacturing hub. However, there was a need to further
encourage the concessions granted to the small-scale industries.
Increase of coverage also received wide acceptance, both from employers’
and employees’ side.
Opposing certain amendments proposed,
representatives of the Trade Unions expressed reservations especially to
the move to introduce NPS as a substitute to EPFO. They also expressed
reservations regarding the inspection scheme which they argued brought
about centralization in the decision making process which is contrary to
the prevailing wisdom which favours decentralization.
Summing up
the discussions, Shri Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, MOL&E assured
that the concerns of all stakeholders will be addressed when giving
final touches to the legislative amendments. Further, the objective
behind bringing in the changes is to further strengthen the delivery of
social security benefits.
In his concluding remarks, Shri
Dattatreya stressed upon the need to focus on the unorganized sector of
the workforce which constitutes 93% of the total workforce. He said that
the need of the hour is to include more segments of the workforce like
Anganwadi works into the ambit of social security legislations. He also
informed that the Ministry is contemplating issue of smart cards to the
labour workforce so that social security benefits reach each intended
beneficiary. He also assured that the Act would be amended taking into
account the sensitivities of all concerned.
Shri Sharad Patil,
EFI (Employers Federation of India), Shri S.S. Patil, AIMA (All India
Manufacturers Association), Shri Bhardwaj, Laghu Udhyog Bharati, Shri
Sushant Singh, CII (Confederation of Indian Industries), Shri A.K.
Padmanabhan, CITU, Shri A.D. Nagpal, HMS, Shri B.L Sachdeva, AITUC, Shri
Ashok Singh, INTUC were some of the notable representatives of
employers’ associations and employees’ associations (trade unions) who
took part in the deliberations in addition to the representatives of
various state governments.
Source: PIB News
