By Dr. Gyan Pathak
With the culmination of Centre’s six regional meetings on October 4, 2024 on employment generation and labour reforms with states and Union Territories of India, it has clearly emerged that the states want focused approach for creating quality jobs in the country as well as consultative and consensual approach for rolling out labour reforms. Centre on the other hand wants from states and UTs to align with the overall vision laid out be the central government. The differences are therefore obvious, and sorting them out would be time-taking and complex.
All such Centre-State/UTs meetings focused on discussions around labour reforms, the eShram Portal, Building & Other Construction Workers (BoCW), and boosting employment generation. It should be noted that the Centre has announced several employment generation schemes in the Union Budget 2024-25 tabled in the parliament on July 23. Centre had claimed that these would generate 29 million jobs. However, the Centre had identified a problem in the way of smooth rollout of employment generation schemes and the labour reforms – that was lack of harmony between the Centre and States/UTs, in terms of schemes, priorities, and labour laws.
This realisation made the Centre to start meeting between Union Ministry of Labour and Employment and all the states/UTs the process which was to be completed within about a month. Other objectives of the meetings included identifying gaps, address concerns and draw up the way forward in a collaborative manner. Centre encouraged the participating States and UTs to align their steps with other States and with the overall vision laid out by the Central Government.
Centre highlighted the need for adopting a ‘whole of Government’ approach in reforming the labour sector, and emphasized that states need to harmonize state-specific rules with Central Labour Codes to ensure uniformity and ease of compliance across the country, and that this needs to be done in consultation with industry, trade unions and other stakeholders. Centre also showcased the benefits of establishing e-Shram portal as One-Stop-Solution for unorganised workers and Centre also requested the States to take a proactive stance in the much-needed two-way integration process, to achieve the objective of welfare of unorganised workers through easy access to social security and welfare measures. Emphasising the importance of creating quality jobs and accurate measurement of employment, Centre said that Union Ministry of Labour and Employment would come out with a scientific framework for capturing State-level employment generation initiatives and outcomes.
First of the meeting was held on August 30, 2024 in Bengaluru where Six states/UTs– Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, Puducherry, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands participated. States expected from the Centre a timely and regular submission of employment returns and job-fair details to DGE through the modules on the NCS portal; Time-bound two-way integration with the e-Shram portal; Employment data creation and adoption of a focused approach for creating quality jobs; and adopt a consultative approach to framing state rules.
Key points for BoCW included expanding welfare coverage, ensuring audits, and integrating data with eShram to enhance registration and extend the coverage of Central Welfare schemes like PMJJBY/PMSBY/PMJAY/PMSYM to BOC workers. States/UTs were encouraged to increase cess collection and compliance with model welfare schemes.
On employment generation, modernization of Employment Exchanges, building partnerships with educational institutions, and industry collaboration were discussed. Improving ESIC services through optimal infrastructure utilization, forming State ESIC Societies, and streamlining fund flow was also emphasized.
Second regional meet was held on September 6 in Chandigarh where participating states/UTs were Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Chandigarh and Rajasthan. States/UTs expectations included–Employment data collection and adoption of a focused approach for creating quality jobs; Strengthening of a coordinated approach to framing of rules under Labour Codes by States/UTs; Timely and regular submission of employment returns and job-fair details to MoL&E on NCS portal; Time-bound two-way integration with the e-Shram portal; and Verification of BoC workers’ data and extension of coverage of Central Government’s Social Protection Schemes to BoC workers through respective BoC workers welfare cess funds.
Third regional meeting was held on September 15 at Gujarat in which Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep participated. These states and UTs have also raised their concerns though they appreciated the Centre for reaching out to them and extending greater support in the implementation of ongoing reforms.
In the fourth meeting held on September 20 in Bhubaneswar, the participating States/UTs were Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Discussion was held on the need for the Centre and States/UTs to set up a joint mechanism for timely compilation of more accurate employment related data, feeding into a centralized dashboard.
The fifth meeting was held in Lucknow on September 30 in which five States/UTs of Central India viz. Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi participated. States/UTs had chiefly four expectations – Timely and regular submission of employment returns and job-fair details to Directorate General of Employment through the modules on the National Career Service portal; Time-bound two-way integration with the e-Shram portal; Employment data creation and adoption of a focused approach for creating quality jobs; and Adopt a consultative and consensual approach to framing State reforms.
The sixth and the last such meet was held at Guwahati which marked the culmination of the such meet on October 4, 2024. North-Eastern States viz. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim participated in the meet. They also have great expectations from the centre.
What emerged after the series of meets between Centre and States/UTs is that harmonisation in draft rules for labour codes, issues relating to employment data collection, rolling out of employment generation schemes as announced in the Budget 2024-25 and integration of e-Shram portal as a “One-Stop Solution” for easy access to social security benefits for unorganized workers including migrant workers would be a very challenging job. Centre and States/UTs will need to work hard to iron out the differences and bridging the gaps. (IPA
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