The Hindu Business Line : Labour Minister to take up EPF interest rate issue with PM again

THE Labour Minister, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, will again take up the issue of "best returns" for provident fund deposits when he meets the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Thursday.

Last Wednesday, after a meeting of the Central Board of Trustees of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Mr Rao had announced that the EPFO would pay 8.5 per cent interest for fiscal 2005-06, one percentage point lower than what it had paid during the past few years.

The Prime Minister had also publicly ruled out any budgetary support to the EPFO to help meet the deficit it will face even if it pays 8.5 per cent.

On Wednesday the Labour Minister told reporters, "I had announced as the CBT Chairman. But I am yet to announce a final decision as the Labour Minister. As Labour Minister, I will try my best."

Mr Rao said, "I will meet the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and all possibilities will be explored to satisfy one and all."

Pointing out that the EPFO was not a commercial organisation but mainly aimed at the social security of workers, the Minister said that the top priority of his Ministry and the EPFO was to ensure safe deposit of subscribers' money.

Generating additional resources: In order to garner additional resources internally, the Minister said that senior actuaries had been asked to look into every non-performing EPF account. All EPFO accounts would be examined to determine how much money was available, he said and added that this might take some time as some rules may have to be changed.

He said the main task before the Labour Ministry at present was the implementation of labour reforms to make India globally competitive.

Another major task, he said, was expansion of the social security network, for which a Bill was being finalised, for the welfare of workers in the unorganised sectors like agriculture and construction. "Three different drafts of the Bill are being examined and it would be tabled in Parliament as soon as possible," he said.

Referring to certain schemes launched by the UPA Government, he said the housing scheme for beedi workers had been liberalised. Under the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), the Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana scheme had been launched to provide 50 per cent of the last salary drawn for six months to any worker who has lost his job.

The Ministry planned to expand ESI coverage to certain vulnerable sectors like the building sector, he said.

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