The Hindu Business Line : FICCI moots new Employment Act

Kolkata April 12 The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has proposed a new Employment Act to improve employment generation in India.

At a seminar on `Bipartite Dialogue on Employment Generation: Removing Policy Constraint' held here on Thursday, the Chairman of FICCI (Eastern Region), Mr C.K. Dhanuka, said the federation had suggested "a new idea, a new Employment Act, which will be employment friendly with extensive social security coverage."

According to him, the thrust in the Act would be on employment generation and the labour force under the current Act "would not have to sacrifice any benefits''.

"It should be a win-win situation for everybody. There would be no change in benefits for the existing labour force, unemployed youths would get jobs and industries would have the benefit of better productivity," Mr Dhanuka added.

Fine tuning labour laws

However, the Union Minister for Labour & Employment, Mr Oscar Fernandes, who was present at the seminar, favoured "fine tuning" of labour laws to ensure social security of workers. "We don't want to touch the existing laws. There could be some fine tuning of the labour laws for more employment opportunities," Mr Fernandes told presspersons.

He also said that the Government would welcome suggestions from FICCI in working out a model. "If they (FICCI) come out with a definite plan we can work out a model," Mr Fernandes said.

Social security bill

According to him, only 7 per cent of the total workforce in India is in the organised sector. The Social Security Bill for the unorganised sector would be placed in the "next half" of current Lok Sabha session, he added.

The West Bengal Minister for Power & Labour, Mr Mrinal Banerjee, said, "Problems mainly crop up due to absence of proper management. The common practice is to put the blame on labour laws. But there are several instances where Indian companies have emerged as global leaders working within the existing framework of labour laws."

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