Abstract:-
Workers of the world, unite you have nothing to loose but your chain, the cry of communist revolution was a notion to establish a country free from suppression, open to change and unprecedented access of the proletariat to the economy and mode of production. Now when the workers are free with an ideal democratic government in this modern and scientific era, the protection of rights and health of the labourers especially in the Indian context are the burden of a multidimensional legislation and dedicated government. Inline with the same ideology Indian parliament tries to draft new codes that seeks to modify and amalgamate the old colonial and postcolonial laws in four new codes that will act to meet the present need and circumstance. In this article I am going to talk about the one among the four code, The Social Security Bill 2019, the motive of the bill, its applicability in the current scenario and the loophole that need to be considered.
Background of Code on Social Security Bill 2019:-
The social security code bill was introduced in Lok Sabha by Mr. Santosh Kumar Gangway, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment on December 11, 2019, the bill has 163 clauses, segregated into 14 different chapters along with 6 schedules on the procedural aspect, this code is the forth code that has been proposed by the government to merge 40 existing labour laws in addition to :-
Industrial Relation Code, which has already been approved by the parliament.
Code on Wages, this code is also approved by the parliament.
Code on Occupational safety, Health and Working condition, which has been sent to a standing committee for the review purpose by the Lok Sabha.
The social security code bill is an instrument that tried to conflate the eight existing labour laws:-
Employment Compensation Act, 1923
Employment State Insurance Act, 1948
Employment Provident Fund And Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
Maternity Benefit Act, 1961
Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.
Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981
Building And Other Construction Workers Cess Act, 1996
Unorganised Workers Social security Act, 2008
Insight of the bill :-
In order to cater with the pace of the world and changing economic environment, this code is framed, so that the workers across nation doesn’t have to voyage the ocean when they are looking for help in case of illness or other misfortunes. No matter whether the workers are organized or unorganised, gig workers or freelancers, this bill is designed to include each and everyone within a vigour social security circumference.
This bill promises to establish a social security fund using corpus available under corporate social responsibility, which will provide welfare benefits such as medical coverage, death and disablement benefits, pension etcetera, to all the workers.
Under this bill the government of India may notify other social security schemes such as EDLI, EPS, EPF. These may provide for a pension fund, provident fund and insurance coverage.
This bill also says that the government may also notify:-
Employees state insurance scheme to provide maternity, sickness and other benefits.
Gratuity to workers on completing five year of employment or even less then that in case of death of the employ.
Maternity relief to all the women employee.
Cess for welfare of construction workers.
Compensation to employees and their family in case of any occupational disease or injury, for example if an employee is going to his office and met with an accident, this bill seeks to provide relief, which was not there in the previous laws.This bill also provides for an option to reduce PF contribution which is 12% of basic salary as per the present law, increasing workers take home pay that will improve the economic condition of the working class.
Under this bill the central or the state government may notify specific schemes for gig workers, unorganised workers, platform workers to provide different benefits, including life and disability coverage.
This bill also seeks to establish several bodies to administer and monitor the social security schemes. These schemes include:-
An Employees State Insurance Corporation, which will be headed by chairman appointed by central government in order to monitor ESI Scheme.
A Central Board of Trustees, headed by the central provident fund commissioner, to administer the, EDLI, EPS, EPF.
State level building workers welfare board, chaired by a state government appointed person, to monitor schemes for building workers.
National and state level Social Security Boards, headed by the centre and state minster for Labour and Employment, respectively to administer the schemes for unorganised workers.
The bill also provide for a specific judicial bodies which may hear appeal from administrative authorities, for instance Industrial tribunal which was constituted under the Industrial dispute act, 1947 will resolve the disputes concerning EPF Schemes.
The bill also talk about Inspector-cum-facilitator, which may get appointed by the appropriate government in order to inspect establishment covered by the code.
This code also specifies about the crimes and penalties one have to bear in case of any breach or offence for example:-
Failure by the side of an employer to pay contribution under the code after deducting the employee’s share is a crime punishable with an Imprisonment between one to three years and fine of one lakh rupees
Falsification of reports, punishable offence with an imprisonment up to 6 months.
Non-payment of maternity benefit, etcetera.
Expectation from the bill:-
This Bill is a bill of new era that solicit to provide social security to all those people whose future was in a bleak and uncertain state because of the old and evasive law. The bill tries to create a regime which will provide good protection and welfare to Indian workers, in a situation where there is a great apathy towards labour laws, employees are refraining to the laws that many a time they desist from setting up a new enterprises. And also the employer faces a lot of difficulties to adhere with the existing 44 labour laws, this bill provided them with a single law to focus on.
After the bill, the unorganised sector employees are now covered under a Unique Identity Number ( UIN ) which will be linked to the AADHAR.
It also expanded the coverage of trade union and their writ on the workers, as in the present scenario trade union only focuses on shrinking organized sector labour force and this code by expanding the scope, is giving a larger platter for trade union to work upon.
The ambit of this code covers the number of employees which are organization has, if it has more than 10 workers it will come under the law, also the workers under hazardous condition will also be covered by this net.
Criticism:-
After all the efforts and brighter side of the bill, in one point or other, there are some cons to the bill, which needs to be calculated and resolved:-
The bill fails to provide a uniform definition of social security, and also there is no central fund. The corpus is proposed to be segregated into various funds, creating numerous authorities and confusion.
Important categories such as wages workers, principle agent in a contractual situation and under organized- unorganised sectors are not well defined.
The bill lacks to establish that how the government proposes to facilitate gig worker’s access to PF or medical care.
The bill also lacks to consider the fact that provisions of meaningful social security on such a humongous scale is beyond the capacity of any single ministry at any single level of government.
Housing and education are the integral part of security and it can’t be achieved by any single ministry especially if the population of country is approx. three billion.
Nor these can be achieved from the contribution of employers and employees. The present government seeks to provide healthcare and housing for all and these are to be funded by the exchequer but these points seems to overlap between welfare policies of the government and social security.
Conclusion:-
The human right and the right of labours are the counterpart to the social security labourers should possess. The Social Security Code bill 2019 is a remarkable step in a right direction which tries to give a robust and efficient coverage to all the workers around the nation. It also protects them from various risk in a working environment in order to ensure employment and dignified life.
Reference:-
https://www.iastoppers.com/rstv-big-picture-code-social-security-bill-2019/
https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/code-social-security-2019
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.civilsdaily.com/burning-issue-the-code-on-social-security-2019/amp/
Author: Akanksha, Legal intern at Legal Desire (June 2020)
A first year BA.LLB student from NARSEE MONJEE INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE (NMIMS), School of Law, Bengaluru.
