Informal workers` Bill may debut in House
Business Standard

Despite stiff opposition from the Left parties, the government plans to introduce the Unorganised Sector Workers' Bill, which provides for health and life insurance benefits to workers in the informal sector, in the current session of Parliament.

The four Left parties that support the United Progressive Alliance(UPA) government have already rejected the Bill, which has been approved by the Cabinet. Instead, they have asked for separate Bills for agricultural and non-agricultural workers.

However, with elections looking likely given the Left’s increasing differences with the UPA over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, the government appears to be keen to send out a strong political message.

Sources said Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes would introduce the single Bill with minor changes in health and accident insurance benefits.

The Bill, however, is unlikely to be passed in Parliament, which adjourns on September 14 in the normal course but may end sooner if the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) does not allow the nuclear deal to be debated.

Pressure to introduce the Bill has also come from Congress President Sonia Gandhi. In her speech at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting on August 14, she described the Bill as "truly landmark and like the national rural employment guarantee Act it is in keeping with one of the key pledges of our manifesto".

Tapan Sen, CPI(M) MP from the Rajya Sabha and national secretary of the powerful Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said: "The government's own committee headed by Arjun Sengupta has suggested two different Bills, but strangely, this has not been done. The proposed Bill will hardly be of any use."

Added Debabrat Biswas, leader of Left constituent Forward Bloc: "There are already dozens of Acts like this. But where is the implementation? So many projects and schemes are there in the name of Nehru, Indira and Rajiv but no work has been done. We don't want another useless Bill."

EPFO sitting on Rs 1,351 crore in idle deposits
The Times of India

A parliamentary panel was shocked to find that Rs 1,351.38 crore was lying with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in the Unclaimed Deposit Account (UDA) as of March 31, 2006. The panel was of the view that this "blocked" money could be "utilised elsewhere for better purpose". But the labour ministry informed the panel that rules did not allow it to touch this money, as it was meant only for "rightful claimants".

Expressing displeasure over the government's reply, the panel has asked the ministry to amend the law but nothing has happened since then.

This unclaimed kitty has been lying blocked and growing over the past 50 years as the EPFO has been disbursing very small amounts from it. The standing committee on labour — comprising nine Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha MPs and headed by MP Sudhakar Reddy — noted in its report how such "huge amount of funds in this account of EPFO has been lying idle for inordinately long period of time for want of claim of beneficiaries".

It noted that only "meagre amounts, ie Rs 56.31 crore, Rs 86.6 crore and Rs 71.08 crore have been disbursed out of the this account during the years 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, respectively". The report was tabled in Parliament a few days ago.

In its reply to the committee, the government stated that "nomenclature of Unclaimed Deposit Account (UDA) has been changed as Inoperative Account (IA) vide Government of India notification on March 22, 2007". It added that when an employee retired or died and failed to claim his/her PF deposit, the money was transferred to the IA account after three years of waiting. "The EPFO has no legal right/power to utilise this fund for any other purpose other than for making payment to the rightful claimant or their legal heirs," the ministry told the committee. It also claimed that regular efforts were made by EPFO to trace the whereabouts of beneficiaries through advertisements in newspapers, through trade unions and employers.

Denying the ministry's stand, an angry committee said it was "not satisfied" with the government's reply. "The committee is of the opinion that for the better utilisation of money, a certain percentage may be retained in this account, while the remaining amount can be judiciously invested in avenues which in turn would earn more money into the fund," the report said.

It recommended that provisions of the scheme be suitably amended for better utilisation of this blocked money, which could earn more income to the EPFO.