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Report on labour reforms to be tabled in Budget session

Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma has said an Action Taken Report on the recommendations of the Second Labour Commission would be tabled in the Budget session.

The consultation process between various industry groups, unions and experts are currently on, Singh told mediapersons after addressing a conference on corporate governance in New Delhi on Thursday night. The conference was organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Centre for Corporate Governance.

In fact, the report would also be deliberated on a two-day Indian Labour Conference, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee on Friday.

Various trade union bodies have been objecting to the recommendations, describing them anti-labour. However, Ravindra Varma, former Union minister and chairman of the Second Labour Commission, had expressed disagreement with these unions, saying the recommendations should be read in its proper perspective and holistic manner.

''The Commission has recommended rationalisation of labour laws and that they should be grouped together into four or five groups of laws pertaining to industrial relations, wages, social security, safety, welfare and working conditions,'' Varma had said.

The Report, presented to the prime minister by Varma on June 29 this year, was made public on September 9.

Singh also reiterated that the Employees Provident Fund interest rate would not be reduced from 9.5 to nine per cent in the immediate future.

However, the decision could be reviewed if the need arose, Singh said.

While the finance ministry favours the reduction in line with the decrease in interest on small-scale savings and General Provident Fund, the labour ministry opposes the move on the grounds that it would affect workers adversely. Singh had been quoted by a section of the media after he took over the portfolio from Sharad Yadav that he was not averse to considering finance ministry's recommendations for lowering the interest rate.

That time also the labour minister denied the reports, stating that there had been no discussion or rethinking in the ministry on the matter.

Singh said there are certain anomalies in the contract labour laws which have to be rectified.

Earlier addressing the seminar, Singh said there would not have been any need for labour reforms had there been harmonious relations between employees and the management.

He lamented that there are 80,000 disputed cases in the employees provident fund.

Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman G N Bajapi said it is not sufficient to frame guidelines on corporate governance but certain tools have to be put in place to measure it.

Hindustan Lever chairman M S Banga said companies need to do much more than paying attention to the their respective shares' values.

Coca Cola India president said the concept and practice of corporate governance are still at an evolving stage globally. The corporate governance is a universal concept and cannot be localised or regionalised to suit local or regional preferences and prejudices.

The labour minister also gave away Golden Peacock Awards for 2002. The award for best performance in terms of corporate social responsibility was given to Oil India Limited, Dehradun in the public sector category and to Tata Steel, Jamshedpur in the private sector segment. The best award for best corporate governance was bagged by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited among the PSUs and Tata Steel among the private players.

UNI

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