BRICS LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

MINISTERIAL MEETING, 2018 [SOUTH AFRICA]

AUGUST 03, 2018

SOCIAL PROTECTION

Fellow ministers, representatives from international organizations, ladies and

gentlemen,
As I take the dais, I would like to begin by reaffirming India’s firm
commitment to universal and sustainable social security systems, including
social protection floors, as an integral part of our policies in our endeavour to
promote inclusive growth, decent and productive employment, gender
equality and social cohesion.
We recognise that a crucial way in which governments can positively
influence labour market outcomes and reduce exclusion and poverty is by
providing social protection to its population. Those who work, and those who
are too young or old or unable to work, require protection from idiosyncratic
and economy-wide shocks and unanticipated events.
India is at a bright spot, with the fastest growing GDP of over 7.5%. At the
same time we also strongly believe that inclusive growth and sustainable
development can be achieved only when we promote the rights and dignity of
our people, including the poor, the oppressed and vulnerable, and other
deprived sections. In other words, empowering individuals strengthens
economies and this in turn, enriches societies at large.
We are working for job security, wage security and social security for all our
workers. We are working to transform social security environment in the
country. Financial inclusion and universalization of social security are our
foremost priorities.
For this purpose, the Government of India has been developing a
comprehensive legislation on social security – the Social Security Code. This
is part of a bigger project we have initiated under our able leadership, to
simplify and amalgamate all the existing Labour Laws into 4 Labour Codes,
on Wages, Industrial Relations, Safety & Working Conditions, and the
aforementioned Code on Social Security & Welfare.
This Code not only extends the coverage of social security to unorganized or
informal sector, but is also an important step for ease of business as it
consolidates 17 present legislations.
In addition to that, we launched affordable social schemes and are actively
monitoring their implementation. Prime Minister Life Insurance Scheme,
Prime Minister Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna, Aam Aadmi Bima Yojna, are a few
successful examples of the same.
We are also transforming our formal sector social security framework to
make it more inclusive by expanding coverage and improving service
delivery and quality of service. We have already taken major administrative
decisions like raising basic rates of minimum wages by over 42%, for the
first time, across all sectors, by raising minimum pension, etc.
We are proactively involved in the process of bringing about transformation
through appropriate legislative steps as well. Through The Maternity Benefit
Act of 2017, we have increased paid maternity leave by more than two-folds,
from 12 to 26 weeks. The Act also envisages enabling provisions for ‘Work
from Home’.
To provide safeguards to our children, we brought about several amendments
to the Child Labour Act in 2016, thereby putting a complete ban on
employment of children below 14 years, in any capacity, and banning the
employment of adolescents in hazardous occupations. Pursuant to that, we
also ratified two core Conventions of ILO last year, C 138 – The Minimum
Age Convention, and C 182 – The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention.
We have also streamlined our efforts to completely eradicate the existence of
bonded labour from our country. In 2016, our Government revised the
Rehabilitation of Bonded Labour Scheme, under which we increased the
financial assistance given to beneficiaries by five-folds.
We are also working towards bringing transparency and accountability in the
enforcement of labour laws, and easing the complexity involved in
compliance. In furtherance of that, the Ministry or Labour & Employment, as
their foremost step, in 2014, launched a unified Web Portal – Shram Suvidha
Portal, and I can proudly acknowledge the positive strides that we have made
in ensuring better enforcement of the labour laws across the country.
We have come a long way in the last 4 years, and there is still a long way to
go. We recognize the innovative capacity of our nations in responding to their
particular national circumstances and evolving social protection systems that
aim to establish the balance between work-incentives, improving human
capital and income protection. We resolve to undertake policy measures in a
comprehensive manner, with particular attention to those in the informal
economy, especially the ones outside the scope of the existing schemes.
We would like to encourage bi-lateral social security agreements amongst
the BRICS member states and work towards developing a general framework
for cooperation.
We stay committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through
implementing comprehensive social security systems that are effective,
equitable and economically sustainable to address the needs of our societies.
We recognise the importance of evidence based research in informing our
policy decisions on labour and employment issues and acknowledge the
contributions of ILO, the International Social Security Association (ISSA)
and national organizations of all Member States in supporting BRICS
cooperation in these areas. We wish to continue our close cooperation with
these and other international organizations.
We are committed to take steps to establish a network of lead labour research
and training institutions in BRICS Member States for undertaking joint
research and training activities, capacity building of various stakeholders and
exchange of information in areas of expertise, in cooperation with the ILO.
Our Government has been working tirelessly, over the past 4 years, to
achieve the goal of social protection and security for all. We acknowledge the
strength of BRICS and how effective our mutual cooperation can be, moving
forward with our goal. Standing here today, I’d like to reaffirm our faith in
this forum and its importance to India. We are committed to working
together, sharing information and learning from each other’s experiences.
India is committed to moving forward, hand in hand, to a better future for all
of us, for our people.
Thank you.