It observes that while existing laws have some provisions for conditions of #work for certain workers, there is no comprehensive legal framework for the “basic and minimum conditions of work” for unorganised sector workers.
Therefore, it proposes comprehensive & protective laws for agricultural & non-agricultural workers in the unorganised sector that will regulate conditions of #work, #SocialSecurity, #welfare and #livehood promotion.
The NCEUS found that the income of marginal and small farmers was less than their expenditure, their debt burden from informal lenders was very high, and state support was extremely meagre. #HumanRights#WorkersRights
Socially deprived groups were predominant in the most vulnerable occupations.For eg. SC/ST workers were 43.5 % of the casual #labour workforce & Muslim #workers,particularly low-caste Muslims, were 19.4% of self-employed non-agricultural workers.#HumanRights#WorkersRights
Among unorganised #workers, agricultural #labourers were the most vulnerable, followed by casual workers, marginal #farmers & the self-employed. As many as 90.7% of agricultural labourers & 52.3% of casual non-agricultural workers received a #wage below the national minimum.
Casual #workers and domestic workers lacked social protection, got low pay for long hours of work, had no access to #health and #safety regulations, and were not entitled to overtime rates and weekly #holidays.
Given the differences in the conditions of work for agricultural &non-agricultural workers,two bills are proposed.They were the Agricultural Workers’ Conditions of Work & Social Security Bill & the Unorganised Non-Agricultural Workers’ Conditions of Work & Social Security Bill.
The main provisions of these bills were an 8hr work day with at least a half-hour break; 1 day of paid rest; a national #MinimumWage for occupations not included in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948; wages based on piece-work to be equal to wages based on hours of work...
The bills also mandated wages for women to be on par with those for occupations certified by the #Employment Certification Committee;payment of #wages on time & failure to do so to attract penal action;no deduction of wages in the form of fines & includes the right to #organise.
They also forbid #discrimination on the basis of gender social origin, place of origin or incidence of #HIV/AIDS; provisions for adequate #safety equipment; compensation for accidents; protection from #SexualHarassment; provision of #childcare & basic amenities at the #workplace.
The NCEUS recommended a National #SocialSecurity Scheme for which all unorganised #workers could register. It wanted to ensure that workers get a min. level of social protection as a statutory right and an entitlement, and not simply as ad hoc largesse bestowed by government.
The scheme would offer #life & #disability#insurance in the case of partial or total disability, accidental #death or untimely natural death of the #worker.
The scheme would also offer benefits such as #hospitalisation for the worker& their family, #maternity benefits for the worker/ worker’s spouse & an allowance for the earning member of the family during #hospitalisation/ in the case of illness during the #insurance policy period.
The scheme would provide an old age #pension of Rs. 200 per month to below #poverty line workers >60yrs & #ProvidentFund to all registered workers. #Workers who own or work on <2 hectares of land,or earn an income of less than Rs.6,500/month,would be be eligible for this scheme.
In case of disputes over the implementation of the bills,the NCEUS recommends conciliation through resolution instead of time-consuming legal/ bueraucratic procedures. Instead, it may involve participation of workers’ representatives/ elected representatives of local bodies.
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Lenindhasan, or Lenin– as he is called – and his friends, are trying to replace modern rice varieties and resist mono-cropping. Their plan is to restore lost diversity. And to germinate a rice revolution.
It's a different kind of revolution, led by another kind of Lenin.
Lenin cultivates 30 varieties of rice. He sells another 15 raised by fellow farmers. And he conserves 80 types of paddy seeds. All this, in his family’s six-acre farm in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvanamalai district.
It seems as if he’s been farming and selling paddy for decades. But it’s only been six years.
Before he became a farmer, Lenin was a corporate employee in Chennai, with two degrees and a good salary.
Life has only become harder in the last 10 years (A thread)
India's poorest homes continue to rely on minor forest produce like mahua and tendu leaves, along with the assured Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) programme.
As they prepare for voting today in the General Elections 2024, Adivasi villagers here in Arattondi village say their lives have only become harder in the last 10 years...
MP govt is punishing "rioters" who had engaged in stone-pelting by destroying private property.
But the idea of Wasim pelting stores is difficult to digest. He had lost both his arms in 2005.
Then why was his house shop razed down too?
[read ahead]
In Wasim’s shop, customers would tell him whatever they needed and help themselves. “They would place the money in my pocket or the drawer in the shop and leave,” he says. “I had put whatever money I had raised into my shop. It was my livelihood for 15 years.”
But on a warm April day in Khargone, Wasim Ahmed watched in horror as a bulldozer ordered by the state govt crushed and destroyed his shop and the valuable material inside. That day, bulldozers flattened 50 other shops and homes in this Muslim-dominated locality.
A student once asked us:
"Why is inequality bad? The kirana owner has a small store & Ambani has a big business because of how hard they work. People who work hard, succeed."
PARI is hoping to address these misconceptions by showing the lives of hardworking Indians [a 🧵]
Unpacking the idea of ‘success’ is possible with a PARI story on unequal access to education, healthcare and justice.
We draw on them in classrooms to share the lives of hardworking people – on farms, in forests and the underbelly of cities, and more.
Students like Chennai high schooler, Arnav admit, “we view them [people below their socio-economic group] as statistics rather than an actual person who goes through things we often go through.”
Every day is Rural Women's Day here at PARI. Don't take our word for it. Browse our website to find stories of some of the most incredible women from rural India!
A thread to get you started 👇
#InternationalDayOfRuralWomen
1/ Seaweed is an essential algae to a wide array of industries, including the pharma industry. But who goes down into the sea to get it? @MPalani17304893 introduces you to the fisherwomen who spend 7-10 hours in the sea every day to harvest it.
2/ Shanti Devi is possibly India's first woman mechanic who has been working at a depot just outside Delhi for over two decades. She changes tyres, fixes punctures, repairs engines and breaks stereotypes. ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/a-…
In the 160 years since the British established tea production, Assam has become the largest tea-producing state in India, the largest tea-producing region in the world and the world’s fourth largest tea exporter.
Still, for every kilogram of packaged Assam tea sold, less than 5% of the cut goes to the workers.
850 million Indians consume tea daily. But who produces it?