Bhubaneswar: Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Santosh Gangwar Tuesday hinted at implementing a pension scheme for labourers after they attain a certain age limit.
The minister was speaking at the Regional Conference of State Labour Ministers and Principal Secretaries of Eastern States here. Speaking on the occasion the minister said, gone are the days when only government officials were entitled for pensions post retirement.
“We have planned a new pension scheme where the labourers after their retirement age will be entitled for pensions. We want the states to come on board for such schemes to get their welfare ensured,” he said.
Gangwar sought support from the states for new laws and norms being made to ensure welfare of the labourers. He also spoke about the new pension scheme and Wage Code 2019, Occupational Safety Health Code and labour laws and sought cooperation from the eastern states including Odisha for these government interventions.
The minister said, “Our government had now come up with new wage court which mandates minimum wage for the labourers, direction for timely payment for them and other norms which could ensure welfare of the labourers,”
The minister said that there are around 50 crore labourers in the country working in the unorganised sector and they are often deprived of information on their rights.
“Whenever we make laws and new norms we consult states and take views and suggestions before formulating these. This regional conference is also meant to take the views of different states in these codes,” he said.
The conference was attended by Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Andaman among others.