Government making concerted efforts for faster, inclusive growth: Bandaru Dattatreya

NEW DELHI: Government is making "concerted" efforts for achieving faster and more inclusive growth for improving working condition of workers and skilling youth, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has said.

"Government is making concerted efforts for achieving faster (and) more inclusive growth, brining improvement in the living and working conditions of the unorganised workers and equipping the youth and new labour market entrants with appropriate skills," Dattatreya said at an award function.

India has a strong workforce of around 47 crore with 1.2 crore entering labour market every year.

He further said that the Ministry is in the process of making four unified labour codes as per the recommendations of 2nd National Labour Commission.

"It is our endeavour to make our labour laws more user friendly, compliance friendly, worker centric, (making it a) difficult time for the violators while convenient for the abiders," he said while addressing a function for presenting Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (VRP) and National Safety Awards (NSA) for 2013.

Also present at the event, Labour Secretary Shankar Aggarwal said, "We are trying to simplify labour laws to make life simple for industries and young entrepreneurs."

He also said that the time has come when the law should be made or amended with participation of actual stakeholders.

VRP is awarded in recognition of outstanding suggestions given by a worker or group of workers and implemented by the management, resulting in improvement in quality, productivity and working conditions such as safety, health and environmental conservation in the industrial undertakings where "Suggestion Schemes" are in operation.

There are 28 award winners for the Performance Year 2013, which are being shared by 132 individuals.

The NSA is given in recognition of outstanding safety performance of industrial establishments, construction sites, ports and installations to stimulate and maintain the interests of both the management and the workers in accident prevention programmes.

For 2013, the total number of NSA award winners and runners-up are 98 (53 winners and 42 runners-up).