New Delhi: Mr Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, Govt of India today said that 3 labour reforms – Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019; Code on Social Security 2019 and Industrial Relations Code 2019 will be tabled in the upcoming session of the parliament.
Addressing FICCI webinar ‘Future of Private Security Industry: Code on Wages- Safeguarding Rights of Lakhs of Essential Services Workers’, Mr Gangwar said, “Industry plays an important role in formulating the laws. I would urge you (industry) to share necessary changes so that all viewpoints are taken into account. In the upcoming session of the parliament, we will be introducing 3 other bills for discussion.”
Mr Gangwar added that the Code on Wages rules have been framed keeping in mind the demands from the industry. He further said that the government is committed to supporting the industry. “Labour reforms is one of the top agenda items for this government,” he added.
He also urged FICCI to submit a detailed presentation to the Ministry on various industry-specific issues.
Appreciating the role of private security services, Mr Gangwar said that the industry has been serving the businesses and safeguarding assets, infrastructure and lives, which is the first and foremost requirement of any society or business to sustain and prosper.
“The Private Security sector has been one of the top priority sectors for my ministry in recent years. Private Security, Facility Management, Cleaning Services and Cash Van operations are critical to both society and economy,” Mr Gangwar noted.
He also stated that the sector employs almost 1 crore individuals and connects around 4 crore people through the family of workers with the benefits of the government’s schemes. “A few years back, my ministry had taken a landmark decision of upgrading the classification of private security workers to ‘skilled’ and ‘highly skilled’ categories under Central & State Minimum Wages,” said Mr Gangwar.
Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI said that the introduction of Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2020 will certainly be a landmark in bringing labour reforms for the benefit of workers and employees working in various establishments including Private Security Agencies. She also suggested that a large workforce in the private security space can be utilized to make up for the low police to citizen ratio, with careful policy interventions to identify non-core areas of police and security functions.
Mr Rituraj Sinha, Chair, FICCI Committee on Private Security Industry & Group Managing Director, SIS India Ltd., said that the government is committed to reforms in the labour sector. “We are going to see the biggest labour reform and recast in the next 12 months,” he added.
He also assured the government that the industry, employing over 50 lakh people and over 10,000 MSMEs, will be a part of the government’s labour reforms initiative.
Ms Rupal Sinha, Director Quess Corp Ltd., urged the Minister to reconsider Schedule E of Draft Wage Code, so that the nomenclature like Gatekeeper, Watchman and Chowkidar could be removed.
Mr Sandeep Deshpande, COO, ISS Facility Services India emphasized on streamlining of the process pertaining to Contract Labour Licence.
Mr Gurcharan Singh Chauhan, President, Security Association of India urged the government on the clarity of the definition of Principal Employer.
Ms Manari Jaruhar, Advisor, FICCI Committee on Private Security Industry & Former Special DG, CISF delivered the vote of thanks.
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