LS Monsoon Session: House passes key labour reform bills

22:45 September 22

House adjourned till 6 pm tomorrow

The House has been adjourned till 6 PM on Wednesday.

22:41 September 22

Amit Shah welcomes J&K Official Languages Bill

Home Minister Amit Shah welcomes Jammu Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020, saying "the bill will also strengthen the existing institutional structure for the promotion and development of regional languages."

21:03 September 22

Speaker extends proceedings till 10 pm

Speaker Om Birla has extended the proceedings of the House till 10 pm today. 

The House is taking up the Zero Hour now.

20:26 September 22

Centre says non-recognition of a language spoken by over 50% of J&K population historical blunder

MoS Home, G Kishan Reddy said that it is surprising that a state where over 56 per cent population understands and speak Kashmiri is still not recognised as an official language in the state. 

Reddy termed it a 'historical blunder', adding that all such historical blunders of past 50 years will be 'fixed' under the leadership of Narendra Modi. 

Reddy said that according to the Census of 2011 only 0.16 per cent of the state's population speaks Urdu, which has remained the sole official language in the state. 

He said that Kashmir, spoken by over 56 per cent population, Dogri, the language of over 20 per cent people and Hindi, spoken by over 2 per cent people were all ignored in the state for 70 years. 

20:11 September 22

House discusses introduction of Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020

The House started the discussion on the introduction of The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020.

20:09 September 22

House passes key labour reform bills 

The House passed the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020, The Industrial Relations Code 2020 and The Code on Social Security 2020 by a voice vote.

20:09 September 22

Database on Migrant Workers Soon

Ministry of State, Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar said "this government gives importance to the plight of migrant labourers. Many initiatives for their benefit have been introduced. We are looking at provision for a database on migrant workers."

19:32 September 22

'Bill to be Read as Geeta, Quran' 

BJP MP Manoj Kumar Tiwari said, "I Urge all labours, employees, workers in the film sector, women staff to read this Bill as Geeta, Quran as the more you follow this, the more historic changes you will get to experience."

19:05 September 22

Labour reform Codes to provide a milestone for welfare of workers, says labour minister

The labour reforms that are being undertaken by the government will prove to be a milestone for the welfare of workers, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said.

While moving the bills for consideration and passage, the minister said that the government has come out with the changes in the legislations after extensive consultations with state governments and other stakeholders.

He said that about three-fourth of the recommendations of the standing committee, which scrutinised the codes, have been incorporated in the bills by the government.

18:54 September 22

Jayadev Galla Raises Silence on International Workers in Labour Codes 

TDP MP Jayadev Galla said that the Social Security Code makes Aadhaar mandatory to receive benefits. 

Is this not a violation of the Supreme Court judgement?. He also pointed out that the Code is silent on international workers as there is no definition of such workers. 

An employer who is dealing with international workers will not know who to calculate the PF contribution fund, etc. A clarification on this is needed, he added. 

18:09 September 22

BJD, YSRCP support labour safety Bills

Pinaki Misra of the BJD said that the Standing Committee laboured over many months on the Bills, the government accepted 74% of the recommendations. 

The nomenclature of "Chief Inspector", which is a reminder of inspector raj, should be reconsidered, he said.

18:01 September 22

Farm bills will bring revolutionary changes in the agriculture sector: Narendra Tomar

Narendra Singh Tomar, the agricultural minister, assured the house that the farm bills will bring revolutionary changes in the agriculture sector.

He reiterates MSP will continue and cites the example of increasing MSP of Rabi crops.

17:43 September 22

Speaker Om Birla meets Opposition members after they boycott session  

Speaker Om Birla is holding a meeting with members of Opposition parties after they announced a boycott of the session in solidarity with suspended Rajya Sabha MPs and in opposition of the Farm Bills.

17:36 September 22

Labour codes to create a database of all migrant workers in India: BJP MP

BJP MP Pallab Lochan Das from Tezpur (Assam) terms the codes a major reform for the benefit of the working class. 

"We have already universalised the minimum wage system and expanded its applicability, the definition of migrant worker has been changed for the first time," said Das.

"They can register with a portal and get all the benefits meant for migrant workers. This will also create a database of all migrant workers in the country," he added.

17:06 September 22

House begins debate on labour safety code

The House has begun discussions on the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020. 

16:50 September 22

Opposition boycotts Lok Sabha session

Opposition parties led by Congress boycott Lok Sabha session, in support of Rajya Sabha MPs who have been suspended for one week and the farm Bills issue. 

The opposition has already announced that it will boycott the remaining Rajya Sabha session

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary said that he had a lot of expectations from the Agriculture Minister that he would take positive steps for the farmers' welfare "We are boycotting the proceedings."

16:49 September 22

Unfortunate that what happened in RS is being discussed in LS: Pralhad Joshi

'What happens in one House has never been discussed in another House. This is highly unfortunate that what happened in Rajya Sabha is being discussed here. 

Deputy Chairman was even beaten up," Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pralhad Joshi said in the House.

16:49 September 22

Opposition demands farm bills be withdrawn

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury replies saying "our only demand is for the withdrawn of the Farm Bills."

Other Opposition parties bring forth the issue of farmer protests and the contentious Farm Bills and raise slogans against it.

16:22 September 22

proceedings resume again

The proceedings of the House has resumed again.

15:21 September 22

House adjourned for an hour

The House has been adjourned for one hour, following sloganeering by Opposition MPs

15:10 September 22

Lok Sabha proceedings begin

Amidst sloganeering, proceedings have begun. Speaker Om Birla is chairing the session.  

14:42 September 22

LS Monsoon Session Updates

New Delhi: The Central government has listed three Labour Bills and one Finance Bill for passage in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing session of Parliament on Tuesday.

The Occupational Safety, Health And Working Conditions Code, 2020; Code On Social Security, 2020; Industrial Relations Code, 2020; and Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 are among the Bills listed in the Legislative Business.

The Bills will be moved after the House will assemble for the day at 3 pm.

Union Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Gangwar will move the 'Occupational Safety, Health And Working Conditions Code, 2020' to consolidate and amend the laws regulating the occupational safety, health and working conditions of the persons employed in an establishment.

The Minister will also move the Bill on the 'Code On Social Security, 2020', which seeks to amend and consolidate the laws relating to social security. The aim of the Bill is to extend the security to all employees and workers either in the organised or unorganised or any other sectors.

He will also move the 'Industrial Relations Code, 2020' Bill to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Trade Unions, conditions of employment in an industrial establishment or undertaking, investigation and settlement of industrial disputes.

The government on Saturday introduced three Bills related to the labour laws, including on industrial relations, in the Lok Sabha amid opposition from the Congress and a few other parties. He had also withdrawn the three Bills that were introduced last year. The Minister then said that over 29 labour laws have been merged into four codes and that one of them has already been passed.

The Code on Wages Bill, 2019 was passed by Parliament last year. Gangwar had noted that the government engaged in wider consultations over these Bills with various stakeholders and that more than 6,000 comments were received online on the Bills.

These Bills were later sent to the Standing Committee and 174 of its 233 recommendations have been accepted, the Minister had said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will move the Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to amend the Factoring Regulation Act, 2011. 

(IANS)