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Mr K.C. Pant, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, with Mr Sahib Singh Verma, Minister for Labour, having a word with Swami Agnivesh (left), during a seminar on unorganised sector labour in the Capital on Thursday.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 7

A PENSION system for unorganised workers is being firmed up, as per the announcement made in the Union budget for 2001-02.

Disclosing this while inaugurating a national seminar on the unorganised sector here on Thursday, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr K.C. Pant, said that it would also be useful to frame a perspective plan for social security coverage of all workers in the country within a time frame of 15 to 20 years.

The perspective plan, he said, should clearly identify the role of employers, workers and their organisations, the Centre and the State Governments. Mr Pant said that bringing reforms to the agriculture sector was a core element of the Tenth Plan.

Advocating a review of rules, regulations and procedures, Mr Pant called for expeditious removal of barriers that stifle the entrepreneurial urges of the workers in the unorganised sector.

"Proper kinds of public investment and policy reforms will be able to unleash tremendous entrepreneurial energy in the rural sector, which will create opportunities not only for our farmers, but also in non-farm rural activities," he said.

There can be no better method than this of providing sustainable social protection, he said. Recognising the critical role of the unorganised sector in the economy, Mr Pant said that considerable emphasis had been laid in the Plan on vocationalisation of education and inculcating the dignity of labour within the educational process.

Referring to contractualisation of jobs, he said that there should be a system in place or employers or contractors must mandatorily agree to provide welfare and social security cover to contract labour.

Presiding over the function, the Labour Minister, Mr Sahib Singh Verma, said that policy choices regarding unorganised sector would have to be designed within the framework of `growth with a human face'. He said that umbrella legislation for welfare of workers in the unorganised sector would be introduced in Parliament during the Budget session next year. He said that it would be the Labour Ministry's effort to get it passed during that session itself.

The Minister said that the first step in extending the reach of social security measures to workers in the informal sector is the identification of beneficiaries.

He said that the Government is contemplating the introduction of the social security number and social security cards to all workers in the unorganised sector. He said that there is a need for rationalisation of labour laws and called for operation of all social partners in this regard.

The two-day seminar is being attended by the Labour Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, the Labour Secretary, Dr P.D. Shenoy, representatives of State Governments, employers, trade unions and NGOs working for the welfare of the unorganised workers.

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