RSS-affiliate BMS presses for further scrutiny of Social Security Code Bill

NEW DELHI: RSS-affiliate trade union the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh has urged government to send the Social Security Code Bill to the parliamentary Standing committee for further scrutiny as the code still lacks the universal character that would have benefited the last worker in the country. Labour minister Santosh Gangwar had tabled the bill, the last of the four labour codes, in Lok Sabha last week

According to BMS, since the code continues to retain the threshold under each legislation including the provident fund, employees’ state insurance, gratuity and maternity benefits, it will not benefit the entire 500 million workforce of the country.

“Main concern that remains in the Code is the lack of its universal character, since the existing thresholds for applicability of PF, ESI, gratuity, maternity benefits etc. have not been removed,” it said.


“Last worker in the country, especially in the unorganised sector, will have to wait probably another century to get all the social security benefits,” BMS said in a statement on Wednesday.

Hailing the various pro-workers measures under the code, BMS said government will have to ensure that employer contribution to EPF remains at 12% in the scheme instead of 10% repeated in the Code. “Otherwise worker will be losing a huge amount in the long run,” it said.

Labour ministry has been contemplating to send the labour code on industrial relation bill and the code on social security bill to the standing committee for vetting as it feels the provisions have wide technical implications.

As part of its reform initiatives, the labour ministry has decided to amalgamate 44 labour laws into four codes — on wages, industrial relations, social security and safety, and health and working conditions.

The Code on the Social Security is the last of the four labour codes that have been approved by the Cabinet.

The labour code on wages was approved by Parliament in August while the code on occupational safety, health and working conditions has been referred to the parliamentary standing committee on labour. The Industrial Relations Code Bill, 2019, has been tabled in Parliament.