New Delhi: In a move that will benefit millions of migrant workers, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 introduced in the Lok Sabha on Saturday proposes to allow any migrant to register himself as an inter-state migrant worker on the government portal on the basis of self declaration by using his Aadhaar number.
The simplification of the registration process as an inter-state migrant worker on the basis of self declaration will enable them to avail social security benefits such as EPF, ECS from their employers and also permit them to avail subsidised ration in the destination state.
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 introduced by labour minister Santosh Gangwar in the Lok Sabha on Saturday proposes sweeping reforms to benefit migrant workers who were worst hit by the Covid-19 lockdown announced by the government in March this year.
Millions of inter-state migrant workers were forced to walk for hundreds of kilometers under scorching sun to reach their home towns and villages as Covid-19 lockdown not only shut the industries but also the public transport system. Lack of employment and accommodation made their sustenance in cities nearly impossible, forcing them to walk hundreds, and in some cases over thousand kilometres, to reach the safety of their villages.
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Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020
In July last year, the Union government introduced Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019 to simplify and combine 13 labour laws including the Factories Act, the Mines Act, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, and the Inter-State Migrant workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, among others.
However, in the ongoing Lok Sabha session, the Centre decided to withdraw the bill introduced last year and introduced a new bill on Saturday which expands the social security net for inter-state migrant workers whose plight became public during the Covid-19 global pandemic.
The provisions of the bill will be applicable on the establishments in which ten or more migrant workers are employed or were employed on any day during the past one year.
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The Bill also aims to correct one of the biggest lacunae in the existing Interstate Migrant Workers Act that restricted the social security benefits to only those migrant workers who were hired and registered through a contractor.
Migrant workers will be able to register using Aadhaar
"A migrant may register himself as an Inter-State Migrant Worker on the portal on the basis of self-declaration and Aadhaar," said Santosh Gagnwar in the Bill.
In addition to registration on the basis of self-declaration by using Aadhaar, the Bill also allows migrant workers the option of portability to avail benefits on availing subsidised food and other benefits of building and construction worker cess in the destination state.
Inter-state migrant workers to get EPF, ECS benefits
The Bill also proposes to extend benefits under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 or the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and other legal benefits to inter-state migrant workers of an establishment as available to any other worker employed by the employer.
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Employers to pay journey fare for migrant workers
The Bill also makes it mandatory for an employer to pay a lump sum amount of fare in a year to every inter-state migrant worker employed by him for travelling from his native place to the place of employment and for return journey. The periodicity, class of travel and other matters will be decided by the appropriate government.
