A unique initiative of the MMVA government that allowed construction workers to have nutritious meals for Rs 1, it was initially conceived to support the welfare of construction workers registered with the  Maharashtra Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (MBOCWWB) . For just Rs 1, these workers could avail of a nutritious meal consisting of chapati, sabji, daal, rice, salad, pickle and jaggery. In the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the scheme was extended to non-registered construction workers. With nearly 13 lakh registered construction workers in Maharashtra, the program ensured sustenance to a large part of the workforce. Figures show that while under implementation, the scheme managed to serve approximately seven to eight lakh workers with nearly five crore meals every month, addressing a pressing need for affordable, nutritious food among this vulnerable population.

Sources from the state labour ministry tolf Mid-day, “Mumbai and Konkan division have more than 10,000 registered labourers. The common complaint from these divisions is that most of the labourers do not get food under the scheme.” This “decision” without any consultation or debate to terminate the scheme was communicated through an official order, which cited several reasons for the closure.

The order reportedly states, “Considering the completion of the five-year term as mentioned in the Request For Proposal document and other financial as well as administrative issues, it has been decided to close the said mid-day meal scheme from November 1, 2023.” While this decision might appear to be a matter of routine administration, it has significant implications for the construction workers in Maharashtra. For many, the mid-day meal scheme represented a small yet critical source of relief. This move comes at a time when construction workers in Maharashtra are grappling with a myriad of issues, including unstable employment, inadequate wages and a lack of social security.

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Delhi construction workers insist: life has continuously deteriorated for last 6 yrs

Women construction workers fear job loss, suffer silently amidst growing pollution

Why Construction Workers Missed Government Welfare Benefits For 23 Years

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As many as 94 percent of Delhi’s women construction workers never raised their voice or took any steps to prevent the negative impact of air pollution due to the fear of losing their jobs, revealed a survey conducted as part of the Help Delhi Breathe campaign.

A report from syndicated news said that Purpose India and Mahila Housing Trust (MHT) jointly executed a project involving 390 women construction workers from Bakkarwala, Gokulpuri and Sawda Ghevra. The survey was conducted from August 2021 to April 2022 to mobilise and enable women and help them understand the impact of air pollution. The goal was to interact with their women about their and their children’s health, build knowledge and so pressure local governments to support relevant policy and action.

Sample households were characterized by respondents majorly in the 36 years and above age-groups. Most of them consisted of illiterate or low educational-level people, predominantly from Scheduled Castes, followed by OBC. As many as 87 percent of them were married.

Around 85 percent of the women agreed that air pollution has a negative impact on human health and 75 percent said they feel sick or uncomfortable when the air quality is bad. More than three-fourth of respondents believed that working at construction sites is harmful for their health.

Further, 76 percent of the women were aware of air pollution. As for sources, 61 percent women learnt about the phenomenon from television, another 41 percent women learnt about it from their peer group and 45 percent women learnt from school-going children or family members.

“All participants were ignorant about the terms PM 2.5, PM 10 and air quality index,” it said.

“Ninety-four percent women never raised their voice or took any steps to prevent the negative impact of air pollution due to the fear of losing their jobs,” it claimed.

Some women said that preventing air pollution at construction sites is the sole responsibility of contractors, with workers having no liability for the same. Thus, only six percent women took preventive steps such as using masks or dupatta to cover their face, wearing full sleeved clothes, raising concerns at construction sites, sprinkling water on debris, among other things. A whopping 90 percent of the women said the government should improve public transport so that private transport is reduced.

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UN resolution calls right to clean, healthy and sustainable environment a Human Right

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In wake of the extended lockdown, the Delhi government on Monday decided to provide an additional financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 to around 40,000 construction workers registered with the Construction Workers’ Welfare Board. It also decided to launch an online portal where construction workers could register themselves from May 15 to May 25. The Delhi government had earlier provided aid of Rs. 5,000 to construction workers in April, The Tribune reported.

दिल्ली में कंस्ट्रक्शन का काम करनेवाले मजदूरों को इस महीने एक बार फिर दिल्ली सरकार ₹5000 की सहायता राशि देगी।

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 11, 2020

Since there was confusion about who could register, Delhi Labour Minister, Gopal Rai explained that carpenters, construction site guards, people who undertake concrete mixing, crane operators electricians, masons, tiles and stone fitters, welders, coolies, pump operators and others can apply for the benefit.

Construction Workers में कौन-कौन लोग रेजिस्ट्रेशन कर सकते हैं… pic.twitter.com/JeuItKp9De

— Gopal Rai (@AapKaGopalRai) May 11, 2020

The Delhi government also provided a one-time financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 to a total of 110,093 public service vehicle (PSV) badge holder para-transit drivers in the city. In the second week of April, the government had decided to provide this aid to drivers of autos, taxis, e-rickshaws and other para transit vehicles to help them overcome the financing crisis that stared them in the face during the lockdown, reported the Hindustan Times.

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said that the teams had only executed this scheme after leveraging technology so that nobody would have to step out of their homes to collect this aid.

He said, “The government has paid a total amount of ₹550,465,000. To do this without requiring beneficiaries to leave their homes during lockdown, we developed a unique mobile-based technology and software, and leveraged Aadhaar-based direct benefits transfer (DBT).”

He also said that the government faced difficulties in providing aid as the during the verification process, they found that there were various mismatches in the names between driving licenses and Aadhaar cards. Gahlot said, “We witnessed that in around 60,000 cases there was a mismatch in names between driving licence and Aadhaar. So, we faced a lot of issues in their verification. All the 13 MLOs were directed to manually cross-check and verify the names and details in the driving license with the Aadhaar details. This way, through mobile technology and round the clock efforts of the Delhi transport department officials, the verification process was completed. We have received nearly 158,000 applications.”

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The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has decided to provide financial help to construction workers, who are struggling to make ends meet during the lockdown. As many as 57,096 building and other construction workers in the Capital who are under severe financial stress, reported The Indian Express.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation with the help of Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board will ward-wise give each worker Rs. 1,500 either directly in their locality or through bank transfer, of course following strict social distancing norms as they engage in direct distribution.

An official from the civic body said, “Initially around 1,500 beneficiaries will be provided the assistance directly in Saliasahi area of the city,” also mentioning that ward-wise distribution wouldn’t be possible there as the area is vast.

While Zonal Deputy Commissioners will work out distribution plan for the Wards in their jurisdiction, officials of BDA and BSCL will also be involved in the task. The police and officials of the Education and Housing and Urban Development will also support the state government in this endeavor. No distribution will take place between 1 pm and 3 pm due to high temperatures and due importance will be given for sanitization, location announcement, maintenance of acquaintance and verification of Aadhaar cards.

The Maharashtra government too announced a one-time assistance of Rs. 2,000 to all construction workers through direct benefit transfer. Maharashtra Labour and Excise Minister, Dilip Walse Patil tweeted, “According to the discussions held at the meeting of the chief minister, deputy chief minister, labor minister and concerned officials, financial assistance of ₹2,000 was decided to deposit the account in a DBT manner.” Around 12 lakh workers are said to be benefitted by this assistance, he mentioned.

The Mizoram government too provided an assistance of Rs. 3,000 each to over 40,000 construction workers through direct benefit transfer under the Mizoram Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, said state labour minister Lalchhandama Ralte. The same had begun to be implemented in various phases since April 7, he said.

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Several states announce monetary aid for workers stranded outside state
States plan employment schemes for urban marginalized and migrants

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Kolkata: Requests and appeals to the Union government over the past several months not having yielded the desired results, building and other construction workers will stage a ‘March to Parliament’ on December 5 as part of their stepped up agitation in support of their demand to continue The Building And Other  Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment And Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 (BOCW Act).

In other words, building and construction workers are opposed to the Centre’s decision to merge with the proposed universal welfare code, the existing arrangements under the 1996 enactments and related amendments.

The ‘March to Parliament’ on December 5 will be held under the aegis of the Construction Workers Federation of India, which is affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).

The BOCW Act and The Building And Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996 (Cess Act) together govern and prescribe implementation methods for the welfare of the workforce in this crucial segment of the economy.

While the CITU-affiliated federation is spearheading the December 5 agitation, other central trade unions too are in favour of the 1996 Acts to be continued. The CITU-affiliated federation has under its umbrella about 300 unions, including a fairly large number at the district level, and they together command a total membership of around 13 lakh.

Asked by NewsClick why the federation was demanding continuation of the 1996 Acts and opposing the proposed universal welfare code, its president Sukhbir Singh (based in Hisar, Haryana) and vice-president Debanjan Chakrabarti said they were quite certain that benefits currently admissible to registered workers would be drastically curtailed or even abolished once the Acts were merged with the welfare code.

Building and construction workers are from the vulnerable segments of society and their job is characterised by “inherent risk to life and limbs”.  Therefore, they are entitled to several benefits, the important ones being children’s education allowance (from primary to higher education in medical, engineering and management streams), housing loans, pension, relief in cases of accidents, maternity benefits and even supply of workers’ tools and spectacles.

The scope of benefits can be widened if utilisation of funds is stepped up and private sector establishments pay the cess, as a large number of them are defaulters in this respect.

Government establishments, such as the Railways, Central Public Works Department, defence construction units and public sector construction undertakings, however, regularly discharge their cess payment obligations. It because of their compliance, that “there is a fund of Rs 44,000 crore as per the latest estimates”. But the benefits given to the registered beneficiaries add up to Rs 12,000 crore only, Singh and Chakrabarti pointed out.

The size of the fund could have been higher than Rs 44,000 crore had collection of cess from the private sector establishments been strictly enforced, they added.

The building and other construction workforce, according to official estimates, stands at around five crore. “But, we think the number is much higher. A very large number of activity is covered under the Acts for the purpose entitlements — masonery, carpentry, those doing plaster of Paris, painting; to mention a few. There are lakhs of self-employed persons, said Chakrabarti.

Regarding poor implementation of the Acts by the Union government and states, it may be mentioned that a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta,  had passed strictures against the authorities in their judgement dated March 19, 2018 while disposing of a writ petition in which National Campaign Committee for Central Legislation on Construction Labour was the petitioner and Union of India and Others were the respondents.

The Justices were highly critical of slippages in holding meetings of   official bodies set up under the Acts, collection of cess, maintenance of accounts, including differences in figures and neglect of workers’ interest. Even prescribed benefits have not been extended, they noted.

Referring to the Centre’s affidavit dated October 9, 2015 disclosing that not a single state advisory committee had held a meeting in the previous 12 months, the judgement observed : “………..there is a total lack of concern and apathy on the part of the powers that be in doing anything substantial for the benefit of construction workers. This is indeed an extremely sorry state of affairs that puts a Shakespearean tragedy to shame”.

As for the availability and reliability of cess collection/utilisation figures, the judgement observed: “It must be appreciated that the CAG is a constitutional authority under Article 148 of the Constitution charged with the duty and adequately empowered by Article 149 of the Constitution in relation to the accounts of the Union and the States. If this constitutional body does not have the required and accurate information, there is undoubtedly a financial mess in this area and this chaos has been existing since 1996”.

In this context, it may be mentioned that Union minister of state in-charge for labour and employment (Independent) Santosh Gangwar informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply on December 17, 2018 that following the Supreme Court judgement dated March 19, 2018 the Centre had formulated a model welfare scheme for building and other construction workers which, inter alia, envisaged maternity benefit out of the BOCW welfare cess fund for those workers who are not covered under Ayushman Bharat.

In the same written reply, the wide difference between cess collection by the states and Union Territories and the amount spent on registered beneficiaries was evident — the figures as on September 30, 2018 being Rs 45,473 crore and Rs 17,592 crore, respectively.

Chakrabarti virtually ruled out the possibility of workers who lost their jobs in stalled housing projects being absorbed when work resumed under the Centre’s bail-out package for the real estate sector announced on November 6.

“See, they are mostly migrant workers. When work stopped, many of them might have gone back to where they came from. Some of them may have found alternate earning sources accepting even less  than what they were getting earlier,” he said, adding that much would depend whether the same contractor, the same sub-contractor and the same petty contractor were re-engaged when revival schemes are launched.

“However, chances are that contractors and workers would be new when stalled projects were revived”, Chakravarti said.

On November 6, a Rs 25,000 crore special scheme for the real estate sector was launched by the Centre in a bid to remove certain deficiencies that were there in the relief scheme announced in mid-September. In the new fund, the Centre would contribute Rs 10,000 crore. Contributors for the balance Rs 15,000 crore were to be SBI, LIC and some sovereign and pension funds. As many as 1,600 projects involving some 4.58 lakh housing units are to be covered under the new relief measure.

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After 2008, the growth moderated, with the industry registering an average real growth rate of 5% since 2008. However, the industry is now expected to recover with the formation of a stable government at the Centre with its thrust on infrastructure development to revive economic growth.

Infrastructure projects are major demand drivers in the Indian construction industry accounting for an estimated 49% of industry value followed by real estate and housing (42%) and industrial projects (5%).

Construction is an industry that requires working at ever-changing locations and work environments. Nearly 6.5 million people work at approximately 2,52,000 construction sites across the nation on any given day. Construction is one of the important economic activities in India. It offers employment opportunities to all categories of people right from highly skilled to totally unskilled labour.

In urban sector an increasing number of workers has taken up construction work as a means of immediate employment, which provides cash earnings at the end of the day. Rural masses also migrate to urban areas in search of job to get involved in this second largest occupation. In metropolitan cities, the construction work is predominantly a male-dominated economic activity due to the arduous nature of work to be performed by workers.

Construction safety in India is still in its early stage, because safety laws are not strictly enforced. Contractors ignore many basic safety rules and regulations from the start of any work. Although to improve working conditions, the government has enacted specific legislations like the Minimum Wages Act, the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1923 (modified in 1962), and the Contract Labour (Regulation and abolition) Act of 1970, very few of their provisions are put into practice.

The National Building Code of India, 2005, provides guidelines for regulating construction activities for a building across the country, along with many IS codes of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), such as SP70-Handbook on Construction Safety Practices for site engineers, project managers, and engineers-in-charge of buildings and civil works.

Even then, workers’ safety in the Indian construction industry is frequently pushed to the bottom in the priority list of most of the builders, contractors, and engineers, many of whom are unaware of any norms and regulation.

In developing countries, safety rules usually do not exist, and even if they exist, regulatory authorities are unable to implement such rules effectively. Therefore, it is up to the construction professional to inculcate and concretise these safety norms in their working and set up desired standards.

This can definitely reduce accidents that directly or indirectly reduce project cost and ultimately delays. In India efforts should be made to raise the level of awareness among the workers and employers about the importance of health and safety-related issues.

In the State of Gujarat, in the year of 2018, 144 accidents were reported from construction sites resulting in death of 137 workers. The data was collected through RTI from all police stations across the state and news clippings. In the last decade 1,405 accidents were reported, including 990 fatal accidents and 415 non-fatal accidents.

Section 39 of the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Act, 1996, provides reporting accident to the authority appointed under this Act. But enforcement is so weak that there is a huge gap between the number of accidents taking place and reported accidents.

Some data of accidents are available but there is paucity of data on occupational diseases. In the construction industry, workers pose risk of getting occupational dermatitis, cancer, asbestosis, silicosis, muscular skeletal disorder, respiratory diseases etc. Despite all odds there is some hope from Gujarat Building and other Construction Workers Welfare (BOCW) Boards. The BOCW Board has begun Dhanvantari Arogya Rath to help cure occupational diseases.

In the scheme, registered construction workers can get benefit up to Rs 3 lakh. The Board reimburses medical expenses, gives Rs 1,500 financial assistance per month in case of disability of up to 90% and Rs 3,000 in case of 90 to 100% disability due to occupational injury and diseases.

Trade unions and NGOs can also help victims by bridging the information gap and set up a system to confirm occupational diseases and claim benefits under the scheme.

Courtesy: Counter View

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Meena Ben Rathwa and her husband Rajesh Rathwa are among millions of naka workers employed in the construction sector, the 2nd largest employer after agriculture. Slow registrations, procedural delays, delay in constitution of state welfare boards and lack of awareness have left construction workers unable to secure mandated benefits such as insurance and pensions.

Meena Ben and her husband Rajesh Rathwa are among the millions of naka workers–casual workers who gather at a naka or junction to get hired for wage work–employed in the construction sector, the fastest growing and second largest daily wage employer in India after agriculture. This has been their livelihood for 13 years.

Nearly 50 million Indians worked in construction between 1983 and 2011-12, and the sector absorbs the largest proportion of rural workers surplus in agriculture. Workers at Harinagar Naka told IndiaSpend that despite the uncertainty, they prefer to work in construction because work is more regularly available and wages slightly better than in agriculture.

The Rathwas’ 16-year-old son escaped the uncertainties of daily-wage work to drive an autorickshaw in Vadodara, but Jhini had to quit school last year and join her parents at the naka. Together, the family find employment for 12-15 days a month on average, at wages that provide for little more than sustenance.

Various central government laws seek to provide a semblance of a safety net and welfare measures for construction workers, of which the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act of 1996 (BOCW) and the BOCW Welfare Cess Act of 1996, are the most important.

They provide for a welfare fund for workers, which states create by levying a cess of 1-2% on construction projects, applicable to any establishment employing 10 or more workers and to projects costing more than Rs 10 lakh. State welfare boards collect the cess and pay social security benefits to workers who register with them. Workers aged between 18 and 60 years who have been engaged in building or construction work for at least 90 days in the preceding 12 months are eligible to register. The benefits include pension, assistance in case of accident, housing loan, education, group insurance premia, medical expenses, maternity benefits, and so on.

However, 23 years after the Acts were passed, implementation remains poor. Most states did not even constitute welfare boards until as late as 2011, so the cess collected was not disbursed. Uttar Pradesh, which recorded the highest number of construction workers (12 million) in 2016-17, was one of them, according to data compiled by the National Campaign Committee for Central Legislation on Construction Labour (NCC-CL).

IndiaSpend visited nakas in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Vadodara, Gujarat. Both are ‘developed’, industrialised states that have fared poorly in terms of cess collection and disbursal, according to India Exclusion Report 2017, published by the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi.

Harinagar Naka, a labour chowk in Vadodara, Gujarat where hundreds of construction labourers gather every morning in hopes of getting employed.

A quarter of funds utilised

Of the Rs 38,685.23 crore ($5.6 billion) collected since 1996 as welfare cess, only Rs 9,967.61 crore ($1.4 billion) or 25.8% has actually been spent, according to the 38th report of the Standing Committee on Labour, presented in Parliament in July 2018. The national average of cess distributed through all the schemes is just Rs 499 per worker, per year.

More than half, or 19 of the 36 states and union territories, spent less than 25% of their collected funds. Kerala was the only state to have spent more than the collected funds and Goa, 90% of its funds. Meghalaya (2%), Chandigarh (4.7%) and Maharashtra (6.8%) had the lowest usage of the funds.

Source: Standing Committee on Labour 38th Report, 2018

Only four states collected more than ₹2,000 per worker per year and more than 20 states collected less than ₹1,000, according to the NCC-CL, a National Committee working to secure social security rights for construction workers. The data are also from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) as well as affidavits filed in court by the Centre and states.

Source: National Campaign Committee for Central Legislation on Construction Labour, 2017

Daman & Diu (Rs 20,525), Sikkim (Rs 3,853) and Chandigarh (Rs 3,157) collected the most cess per worker; Manipur (Rs 114), Jharkhand (Rs 135) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 136) collected the least.

“The distribution of these funds is scheme-wise and cannot be calculated per person, so each worker will get money from the cess depending on the number of schemes they are eligible for,” said a source from Maharashtra’s labour department, when asked why the amount of funds distributed per worker per year is so low.

Difficulty in registering

“We have no idea about the Acts, but we know that there are some benefits we can get if we register,” said Konduba Hingole, a naka worker from Nerul in Navi Mumbai.

Some builders and contractors IndiaSpend contacted in relatively developed states such as Gujarat and Maharashtra said they were unaware of these laws. “I employ workers on a project basis, and we have a Munshi who gives them a card. The card is only meant to mark the days they come to work and they are paid off at the end of the month or when the project ends. I have never known about this registration process,” a builder in Vadodara, Gujarat, told IndiaSpend, not wishing to be named.

Many factors make registration difficult, ranging from design flaws to overlapping Acts and the lack of political and administrative will on the ground, according to the India Exclusion Report 2017.

Maharashtra, the report showed, was among the worst performing states in terms of registration of workers (610,000) and cess disbursal (7% of the cess collection of Rs 5,483 crore) in 2017.

“The government set up a committee in 2007 [in Maharashtra], after the Act was established in 1996, and it was only after 2013-14 that they started registering workers. But the process of registration is not as fast as it should be,” said Deepak Kamble, a Labour Helpline Associate since 2012 with the non-profit development organisation Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) in Navi Mumbai, who works to register construction workers in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

A major challenge for construction workers in Maharashtra is obtaining the 90-day job completion certificate from the employing builder or contractor. He/she then has to pay a fee of ₹85 to submit the registration form.

“Earlier the worker had to go to the commissioner’s office directly for registration. Then the government decided to involve the urban local bodies and municipalities, who were given charge of issuing the 90-day certificate. This would involve the authority going to the naka, identifying regular naka workers and giving them certificates,” said Raju Vanjare, project coordinator at YUVA.

Builders have to deposit the cess to get clearance for their projects, Kamble said.

“Big construction companies or contractors make sure that their workers are registered. However, naka workers don’t get registered easily as they do not get the 90-day work certificate,” he said. A recent government notice aimed to enable speedy registrations by authorising certain government officials such as gram sevaks or ward officers to issue certificates.

“I got my 90-day work certificate as I worked for one boss for a period, otherwise it is difficult to get it,” Sanjay Rathod, a naka worker from Nerul in Navi Mumbai told IndiaSpend, “But even after getting the 90-day certificate, my registration has not been completed, though it has been almost a year since I submitted my documents. Getting benefits is a far cry.”

Naka worker Hingole said he had registered himself with the help of the municipal corporation, which gave him the 90-day certificate.

Maharashtra claims to have 90% of construction workers registered under the BOCW Act, a figure that activists contest. “This is absolutely false. I can bet that half of these [registrations] are fraud. They are non-construction workers. Registration in Maharashtra is very poor,” said NCC-CL’s Bhatnagar.

“Many of the registrations done are incorrect or have not been registered properly. There are seasonal workers who leave once the employment season ends and their registration cards remain with us,” said Kamble.

Maharashtra has about 16 welfare schemes for safety, health, education and financial assistance on various counts under which the cess can be utilised to disburse benefits to workers. But “[Government officials] make excuses saying ‘today the boss is not here’, ‘you will have to wait’, ‘the registrations are in process’ or ‘we haven’t received money from the board yet’,” said Kamble.

When funds are disbursed, activists say, it is just to show that money is being spent. “It should have been opposed by genuine trade unions,” NCC-CL’s Bhatnagar said, “What they are actually supposed to give out of this is immediate relief in case of an accident, a pension when workers reach retirement age, housing loans, healthcare when there is a health claim and education incentives for children’s education.”

“No one takes any initiative to get workers registered. The government officials are unaware of the GRs that are issued. Despite our explaining the regulation, they refuse to cooperate. One of the officials even told me that he does not care about the GR,” said Kamble, adding that with the impending elections, registration camps were held in 2018. “Lots of media and dignitaries were present. They even provided on-the-spot registrations for a day. However, no camps were conducted from 2014 to 2017. There was no difference when the previous government was in power.”

Even registered workers face difficulty

“Even though my registration is done, I have not got any benefits yet,” said Hingole, “There are new people in the [municipal corporation] office and they are now questioning the 90-day work certificate that the same office gave us.”

The Maharashtra labour department now plans to establish ‘Worker Facilitation Centres’ at the district level to increase registrations and speed up the process. It also wants to appoint an agency to set up district-level facilitation centres with a target to enrol 600,000 workers annually. The department’s proposal is awaiting approval by a High Powered Committee.

Appointing an agency is unnecessary, Bhatnagar said, “If you run a centre, what is your interest? To register as many workers as possible to get income. Suppose you get Rs 10 or Rs 20 per registration, you will register everybody to achieve a target, whether it’s an auto-rickshaw driver or shopkeeper because you have to make money. Why will you bother to only register construction workers?”

The 38th report by the Standing Committee on Labour recommended a dual system of registration, online and offline, be developed for construction workers across all states, and that labour identity cards be linked with Aadhaar cards to avoid duplication.

Following this, a gazette notification was issued by the ministry of labour and employment to enable building and construction workers to register at the Shram Suvidha Portal of the labour ministry by paying registration fees by e-challan. Each worker would be assigned a Labour Identification Number (LIN) after registration. As of April 3, 2019, 2,685,058 LINs have been generated.

However, the process has not been smooth for everyone. “The site keeps hanging and we are not able to upload the worker’s photograph,” said Kamble, “We have not used the site for any registrations.”

A new Social Security Code

New labour ‘codes’ proposed to overhaul labour laws and regulation include a draft Labour Code on Social Security & Welfare Bill brought out in 2018 to simplify and amalgamate dozens of overlapping or conflicting laws related to social security and welfare of workers. It suggests that the BOCW cess be continued, and a common system of administration of social security and welfare schemes be put in place for unorganised sector workers.

“There are many assumptions in the Bill which cannot be realised, such as assuming that all workers will be able to contribute 20% of their salary every year for accessing benefits,” Bhatnagar said. “It does not consider the plight of the worker who is not employed for major part of the year. It cannot be implemented simply because there is no framework for collection of this 20% from every worker.” He said the BOCW Acts should continue as it is.

The activists and workers that IndiaSpend spoke to disagreed on whether construction workers need new laws or programmes, or effective implementation of existing ones.

Among the new proposals is the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM) pension scheme for unorganised sector workers announced in February 2019, which is a voluntary, contributory pension scheme; and the Modified Model Welfare Scheme for Building and Construction Workers, which provides for a life and disability cover, as well as health, education, housing and pension.

“We don’t know much about the government procedures and registration. We don’t want the hassle. Every other year, someone keeps coming to us and asks us for Aadhaar Card. We don’t carry it around everyday! We stand here day after day, make our money and go home. We don’t know what the government does for us,” said Meena Ben.

Women construction workers usually get paid less than the men and they have to take their children along with them to the construction sites where there are no provisions for childcare.

(Banerjee, a Master’s student of Political Science at M.S.U., Vadodara, and Raibagi, a data analyst and a graduate of computational and data journalism at Cardiff University, are interns at IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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