Information Technology & The Pace of Labour Reform: Shankar Aggarwal

“We are making it easier for the employees to transfer their PF account when they change jobs. Every employee has a portable UAN (Universal Access Number), which acts as an umbrella for multiple member IDs allocated to an individual by different employers. We have already issued around 4.2 crore UAN,” says Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India

What initiatives are being taken to implement labour reforms in the country?
There are a number of challenges that must be overcome for implementing labour reforms. However, the government is serious about pursuing these reforms and we are very consistent—we are looking into each and every labour law with the objective of making these laws in sync with the time. While carrying on with the reforms, we are also trying to ensure that the interests of the employees are safeguarded in terms of safety, security, hygiene, health and social security net. We have banned child labour in the country—any child below the age of 14 cannot work.

What kind of labour laws is the government trying to develop?
The labour laws must be such that they encourage enterpreumers to set up new enterprises and create jobs for the people. The entrepreneurs in the country should be encouraged to set up small enterprises that provide jobs to 5, 10, 20, 100, 500 or even 1000 people. The fear of labour laws should not stop our entrepreneurs from starting new businesses or expanding their existing businesses. The aim of the labour laws is to safeguard the interests of the employees, and provide them a decent amount of protection from arbitrary job losses. However, the interests of the employees can only be protected when there are enough jobs.

The IT Industry is one of the largest employers in the country. This industry is also highly competitive and subject to sudden technological changes. What steps can the ministry take to develop labour laws that will ensure that the IT industry keeps growing?
The bigger IT companies are keen to ensure that they should be able to comply with labour laws electronically. They want the laws to be clear, so that they are not penalised for flimsy reasons. We are now trying to ensure that the labour laws are easy to comply with. We are also working to enable the IT companies to retrench employees at times when the company does not have sufficient work. Some IT companies face the problem of female employees working in the night. We are trying to help them deal with all these issues.

What should be done ensure the safety and security for female employees working at night shifts?
We are proposing that the female employees should be allowed to work in all shifts. There is no valid reason to deny women the right to work in night shifts. Only thing is that adequate security must be to the female employees so that they can commute from their place of stay to the place of work and back safely.

What steps are being taken to deploy IT for reaching out to the employees?
We at the Ministry of Labour & Employment are determined to ensure that IT is deployed for taking care of all our compliances. Every compliance must be routed through an IT platform, and every piece of information must be in public domain. If any company is putting its information in the public domain and if it is indulging in some fraudulent activity or mischief, people will come to know and someone will file a complaint. However, the businesses should not be prosecuted for flimsy reasons, only when there is evidence of a major crime being committed, the prosecution should be launched. We are making it easier for the employees to transfer their PF account when they change jobs. Every employee has a portable UAN (Universal Access Number), which acts as an umbrella for multiple Member IDs allocated to an individual by different employers. We have already issued around 4.2 crore UAN.

Tell us about the websites that the Ministry has started to serve the needs of the employees?
We have the website for EPFO (Employees Provident Fund Organisation) and ESIC (Employees State Insurance Scheme of India). We are also having the portal for Chief Labour Commissioner. A number of tasks can be easily carried out at these portals. Such web based facilities are important, when the employees tend to change jobs quite frequently and they have to transfer their PF accounts. In case the employee is facing any problems in his PF accounts or on any other issue, he can file an electronic complaint.