INDIA
URGES ILO TO HELP DEVELOPING WORLD IN TRANSFER OF WORKERS FROM
INFORMAL TO FORMAL SECTORS
India has urged the developed
countries to provide requisite financial assistance to developing
countries to facilitate the transition of workers from the informal
to the formal sector. It called upon the ILO to play an important
role to complement this effort by rendering technical assistance
to the countries seeking such help. The leader of Indian tripartite
delegation and Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shri
Muni Lall said that globalisation and liberalisation would lead
to increase in casualisation of workers in developing countries,
thus, adding to the already large workforce in the informal sector.
Citing the case of India where 90 percent of workers belong to
informal sector, Shri Muni Lall said that we need to look at the
strengths of the informal sector and the prevailing social and
economic conditions. Referring to Decent Work and Informal Economy,
a major issue on ILC’s agenda, Shri Muni Lall said the subject
matter should not be seen merely as a rights issue. He said that
the foremost need of the job seekers is employment, so we have
to pursue the ‘Job-first’ approach as Decent work can follow later.
India also apprised the International
Labour Organisation, ILO, about the proactive policy that New
Delhi is following to eliminate child labour. Addressing
the Plenary Session of the International Labour Conference of
the ILO in Geneva, Shri Muni Lall said that the National Policy
on Child Labour in India provides for the abolition of child labour
through a sequential process beginning with the worst forms and
after that moving on to the hazardous and less hazardous forms.
He said New Delhi is of the view that child labour is closely
inter-linked with poverty and illiteracy and is addressing both
these issues with urgency. He said massive poverty eradication
programmes are in operation which have over the years considerably
reduced poverty while education for all children upto the age
of 14 years has been made a fundamental right from this year.
Shri Muni Lall said that the National Child Labour Projects in
one hundred districts have so far rehabilitated more than 150,000
child labourers and brought them into the mainstream of formal
education system. He informed the ILO that India spent US$ 50
million during the last 5 year plan for eradication of child labour
and the allocation is proposed to be doubled for the current Plan.
Making an intervention on the protocol dealing
with recordings and notification of occupation accidents and diseases,
Shri Muni Lall said that flexibility should be made an essential
ingredient of any Protocol to facilitate its ratification by National
Governments.
India supported adoption of the new recommendation
on promotion of cooperatives which askes the member countries
to adopt major and suitable public policies for promoting cooperatives
in order to create employment, develop their business potential,
increase savings and investments. ILO was informed about the cooperative
movement in India as well as a new policy being formulating for
sustained development and healthy growth of cooperatives to make
them self reliant.
Participating in the Plenary debate on Informal
Economy, the Labour Secretary Dr. P.D. Shenoy, said that informal
economy and decent work deficit owe their existence primarily
to poverty, lack of development, widespread unemployment and lack
of resources to bring all workers within the social net. He said
that India is committed to transfer its workers progressively
from informal to formal economy. However, the limited resources
and time consumed in the process has got to be kept in view. In
yet another intervention of the Global Report On The Child Labour,
Dr. Shenoy said that while the urge to eliminate all forms of
child labour should not be allowed to obscure the need to eliminate
the more pernicious and exploitation forms, international definitions
should be limited to unacceptable forms of child labour. He said
that National Governments should determine the definition of hazardous
work.
Shri Muni Lall led a 21 member Indian delegation
to the International Labour Conference which was held in Geneva
from 3rd to 20th June, 2002. More than 3,000
delegates from 175 member countries participated in the conference.
India has so far ratified 39 ILO Conventions including four core
conventions.
