WELFARE OF SPECIAL CATEGORIES

OF LABOUR

UNIT - V
 THE CHILD LABOUR
(Prohibition and Regulation) ACT, 1986

• OBJECT:

• To prohibit the engagement of children in certain

employment’s and to regulate the conditions of work or
children in certain other employment’s.

• DEFENITION:

• Child: Child means a person who has not completed his

fourteen years of age.

• APPLICABILITY: In extends to the whole of India.

 HOURS AND PERIOD OF WORK
• No child shall be required or permitted to work in any
establishment in excess of number of hours prescribed
(Section-7) In Kerala the working hours in limited to four
and half hours in a day. (Rule -3).

• The period of work on each day shall not exceed three

hours and no child shall work for more than three hours
before he has had an interval for rest for at least one
hour.
 Cont.
• No child shall be permitted or required to work between
7 P.m. and 8 a.m.

• No child shall be required or permitted to work overtime.

(Section-7).

• WEEKLY HOLIDAY:

• Every child shall be allowed in each week a holiday of one

whole day. (Section-8).
 Cont.
• According to the 1991 Census, the number of working
children in the country was of the order of 11.28 million.
• The existence of child labour in hazardous industries is a
great problem in India.
• Non availability of accurate, authentic (real) and up to date
data on child labour has been a major handicap in planned
intervention for eradication (abolition) of this social evil.
• Efforts are underway in the Ninth Plan, to modify and
improve the existing National Child Labour Project.
 Cont.
• A major activity undertaken under this scheme is the
establishment of special schools to provide non-
formal education, vocational training, supplementary
nutrition, stipend, health care etc. to children
withdrawn from employment in hazardous industries.

• According to the available information, about 1.05

lakh children have benefitted from the special
schools.
 Causes of Child labor
 Overexploitation of population.

 Decrease of resources.

 Decrease in literacy.

 Increase of poverty.

 Increase of unemployment.

 Lack of schooling and daily care.

 Child Labor Statistics
 61% in Asia, 32% in Africa, and 7% in Latin America, 1% in US,
Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations.
 246 million child workers aged 5 and 17 were involved in child
labor.
 Out of which 171 million were involved in work that by its nature
is hazardous.
 According to certain experts approximately 10 million bonded
children labourers are working as dome In South Asia.
 Beyond this there are almost 55 million bonded child labourers hired
across various other industries.
 Contract Labour

• The labour of workers whose freedom is restricted by the

terms of a contractual relation and by laws that make such
arrangements permissible and enforceable

• The essence of the contract labourer’s obligation is his

surrender for a specified period of the freedom to quit
his work and his employer

• Contract labour has been based upon conditions of poverty.

The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970.

• The following welfare and health measures are to be

provided to the contract workers by the contractor:

• 1. A Canteen in every establishment employing 100 or

more workers (S.16)

• 2. Rest Rooms or other suitable alternative

accommodation where the contract labour is required
to halt at night in connection with the work of an
establishment ( S.17)
 Cont.
• 3. Provision for a sufficient supply of wholesome (healthy)
drinking water, sufficient number of latrines and urinals of
prescribed types and washing facilities (S.18)
• 4. Provision for first aid boxes equipped with the prescribed
contents (S.19)
• The Act imposes liability on the principal employer to
provide the above amenities to the contract labour
employed in his other establishment, if the contractor fails
to do so.
 Cont.
• The acts provides for welfare facilities mainly for
adequately screened washing facilities, drying, resting
places, first-aid or medical, crèches etc. to the
employees in different industries.

• The acts are also stipulates(specifies) the provision of

facilities in terms of numbers of employees and their
working hours per day, weekly holidays, overtime
wages and allowances etc.
 Cont.
• The acts are also stipulates the provision of
facilities for women workers specially in working
hours ( women workers are not to be employed
during night or between 7 p.m and 6 a.m –
though expectation can be made), no child below
14 years of age is to be employed in any factory
Industries.
 Cont.
• Non statutory benefits, also called voluntary benefits,
include
• Loan for house building,
• Education of children,
• Leave travel concession,
• Fair price shops,
• Loans for purchasing personal vehicle / conveyance
and other facilities.
 Female Labour
Pre-Independence Period
• The ancient times, we see men and women in groups leading a
roaming life

• Women were then treated on par with men. when the custom of
marriage arose, there developed in turn, the home and the family.

• The women who reared the children, took care of the household
and performed the general domestic labour, leaving men to do
most of the outside work and so women mostly stayed in home.
 Protective Provisions for Women Employees
Safety/Health Measures
Under Factories Act, 1948
 Section 22(2)--No woman shall be allowed to clean, lubricate or
adjust any part of a prime mover or of any transmission machinery
 Section 27--prohibits employment of women in any part of a
factory for pressing cotton.
 Section 66(1)(b), Sec25, Sec46--no woman shall be required or
allowed to work in any factory except between the hours of 6 a.m.
and 7 p.m.
 Section 46(1)(b)--prohibits employment of women in any part of a
mine which is below ground.
• The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 regulates the employment of
women in certain establishments for certain periods before
and after child-birth and provides maternity benefits Rule 53
of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970,
Section 19 of the Factories Act, 1948, Rule 42 of the Inter
State Migrant Workmen (RECS) Central Rules, 1980--Provision
for separate latrines and urinals for female workers exist

• Section 57 of the Contract Labour, Section 42 of the Factories

Act, Section 43 of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (RECS)
Act, 1979-- Provisions for Separate Washing Facilities
• Section 48 of the Factories Act, 1948, Section 44
of the Inter State Migrant Workmen (RECS) Act,
1979, Section 12 of the Plantations Labour Act,
1951, Section 14 of the Beedi and Cigar Workers
(Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966, Section
35 of the Building and other Constructions
(Regulation of Employment and Conditions of
Service) Act
 knowledge Process Outsourcing
• KPO is knowledge Process Outsourcing. It involves outsourcing
for high-end knowledge work.
• This includes research and work on intellectual property, equity
and finance, analytics, market research and data management,
etcetera.
• It is being claimed that KPO is one step extension of Business
processing Outsourcing(BPO) because BPO Industry is shaping
knowledge process outsourcing because of its favourable
advantageous and future scope.
 Business Process Outsourcing
• Meaning:
• BPO is the process of hiring another company to
handle business activities for you.
• Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a division
of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the
operations and responsibilities of specific business
functions (or processes) to a third-party service
provider.
 Cont.
• BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is
called offshore outsourcing.

• BPO that is contracted to a company's neighbouring

(or nearby) country is called near shore outsourcing.

• Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and legal

process outsourcing (LPO) are some of the sub-
segments of business process outsourcing industry.
 BPO & KPO Workers’ Welfare and Protection Act of 2009
• Coverage. – This Act shall cover all employees and workers engaged
in the Business Processing Outsourcing industry.
• Standard of Treatment. – The employer and the supervisors must,
at all times, treat the BPO worker in a just and humane manner and
ensure and provide that rights and benefits of BPO workers.
• Access to Relevant Information. – The State shall ensure that BPO
companies allow their workers and employees access to relevant
information to make them understand their rights, benefits,
obligations, conditions and realities attending to their profession.
• Protection from Understaffing or Overloading –
• Right to Self-Organization, to engage in Collective Bargaining, and
to participate in Democratic Exercises. – The State shall ensure BPO
Workers’ right to join, organize, or assist organizations or unions, to
collective bargaining and to participate in the deliberation of issues
and in the formulation of policies that affect them.
 Cont.
• Freedom from Interference or Coercion. – It shall be unlawful for any person
or company to commit any of the following acts of interference or coercion.

• Freedom from Company Bond. – It shall be unlawful for any person or

company to compel a BPO worker to commit to a company bond, imposing
high fee to be paid by the employee upon leaving the company before a
specified length of time.

• Protection from Discrimination. – BPO workers shall be protected from

discrimination by reason of sex, sexual orientation, age, political or religious
beliefs, civil status, physical characteristics or disability, or ethnicity.

• Regular Hours of Work. – Normal hours of work for BPO workers shall not
exceed eight (8) hours a day. Any work done by BPO employees beyond the
regular hours of work shall be duly compensated by the employer.
 Cont.
• Overtime Work. –Overtime work with an additional compensation
equivalent to not less than his regular wage plus twenty-five percent
(25%).
• Night Shift Differential. – BPO workers shall be paid a night shift
differential of not less than ten percent (10%) of his regular wage for
each hour of work performed between 10 o’clock in the evening and 6
o’clock in the morning.
• Rest & Meal Periods. – BPO workers shall be entitled to compensable
rest periods and meal periods not less than what is provided for in the
Labor Code and other existing laws. Employees shall not be disallowed
from taking brief restroom breaks during their working hours.
• Regular Working Days. – All BPO workers shall render work for not more
than six (6) consecutive days per week. Provided, That the employer shall
respect the preference of the employee for his/her weekly rest day when
said preference is based on religious grounds.
• Work on Holidays. – BPO workers may be required to work on days
designated as non-working holidays. Provided, That the employer shall
duly compensate the employee’s work on such days in accordance to
existing laws with regard to holiday pay.
•
 Cont.
• Leave Benefits. – BPO workers shall be entitled to all leave
benefits and privileges, such as but not limited to maternity,
paternity, vacation and sick leaves, as provided for under
existing laws.
• Transportation Benefits. – In the absence of or in the lack of safe
and adequate public transportation services in BPO workers’
places of work, they shall be entitled to safe transportation
service.
• Medical Examination and Treatment. – BPO workers shall be
entitled to a medical examination free of charge upon entry in
the BPO company and every year thereafter during his/her
tenure of employment.
• Workplace Policy on Occupational Safety and Health – An
occupational safety and health policy shall be formulated by
each BPO establishment addressing the safety and health
concerns in BPO workplaces and worksites.
• Security of Tenure. – No employee may be terminated except for
just cause as may be provided by the Labor Code.
 SOCIAL SECURITY
• Social security
• Social security may also refer to the action programs of
government intended to promote the welfare of the population
through assistance measures guaranteeing access to sufficient
resources for food and shelter and to promote health and wellbeing
for the population at large and potentially vulnerable (helpless)
segments such as children, the elderly, the sick and the
unemployed.

• Services providing social security are often called social services.

 Cont.
• primarily refers to a social insurance program providing
social protection, or protection against socially recognized
conditions, including poverty, old age, disability,
unemployment and others.

• Social security may refer to: social insurance , where

people receive benefits or services in recognition of
contributions to an insurance scheme.
 Cont.
• There are some components of Social Security:
• Medical care
• Sickness benefit
• Unemployment benefit
• Old-age benefit
• Employment injury benefit
• Family benefit
• Maternity benefit
 Cont.
• Social Securities may be of two types
• Social assistance under which the State finances
the entire cost of the facilities and benefits
provided.
• Social insurance, under the State organizes the
facilities financed by contributions form the
workers and employers, with or without a subsidy
from the state.
 Cont.
 Social Security in India
 At present both types of social security schemes are in vogue
(mode) in our country.
 The social insurance method, which has gained much wider
acceptance than the social assistance method, consists of the
following enactments.
 The workmen's Compensation Act, 1961.
 The Employee's State Insurance Act, 1948.
 The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
 Employees' compensation Act, 1923
 Cont.
• Coverage. This Act covers all workers employed in
factories, mines, plantations, transport undertakings,
construction works, railways, ships, circus and other
hazardous occupations specified in schedule II of the Act.

• The Act empowers the State Government to extend the

coverage of the Act by adding any hazardous occupation
to the list of such occupations is schedule II.
 Cont.
• Administration. The Act is administered by the State
Government which appoints Commissioners for this
purpose under sec. 20 of the Act.
• Benefits. Under the Act, compensation is payable by
the employer to a workman for all personal injuries
caused to him by accident arising out of and in the
course of his employment which disable him for more
than 3 days.
 Agricultural Labour

 The most worrying feature of Indian rural economy has been the
growth in the number of agricultural labourers engaged in crop
production. They get unusually low wages, conditions of work put
an excessive burden on them and employment which they get is
extremely irregular

 An agricultural labour may be the small or marginal farmer or an

artisan, but when a person derives his main earning by doing some
agricultural work on others farm is called an agricultural labour
 Agriculture Workers
• Agriculture Workers constitute by far the
largest segment of workers in the unorganised sector.

• These workers get employment for less then six

months in a year and have to migrate to other areas
for alternative employment.

• Several measures have been taken to protect the

interests of the agricultural workers.
 Cont.
• The very first legislation-the Minimum Wages Act,
1948 is applied to the agriculture sector also.

• Measures have also been taken to look into the

interest of construction workers.

• Many enactments were extended to the include

construction workers
 Statutory provisions and welfare measures
• 1. Hours of works: No adult agricultural worker shall be required to
work for more than eight hours in any day and no adolescent or
child for more that six hours in any day :
• 2. Daily intervals for rest: The period of work on each day shall be
so fixed that no period shall exceed four hours and that no
agricultural worker shall work for more than four hours before he
has had an interval for rest for at least half an hour.
• 3. Wages payable to agricultural workers • Every landowner shall
pay to an agricultural worker employed by him the prescribed
wages for each day or for work done.
• 4. Wages for harvest • The prescribed wages for harvest shall be
paid at the threshing floor on which the threshing takes place and
no portion of the produce shall be removed from the threshing
floor without payment of the prescribed wages to the agricultural
worker concerned.
 Rights of agricultural employees
• i. The right to form or join an employees’ association.

• ii. The right to participate in the lawful activities of an employees’

association.

• iii. The right to assemble.

• iv. The right to make representations to their employers, through

an employees’ association, respecting the terms and conditions of
their employment.

• v. The right to protection against interference, coercion and

discrimination in the exercise of their rights.
 Benefits to the Agricultural workers
• The Central Government shall provide the
following benefits:-
• (i) Old age pension after attaining the age of sixty
years if the worker is not engaged in any
employment, at the rate of rupees one thousand
per month;
• (ii) Free medical or health insurance facilities as
the case may be;
• (iii) Free educational facilities to their children;
• (iv) Essential commodities at subsidized rates
through public distribution system;
 Cont.
• (v) Free life insurance upto rupees two lakh;
• (vi) Compensation to agricultural workers in case of accidents
or death during agricultural operations;
• (vii) Free electricity and water facilities for agricultural
operation in their own land in such manner as may be
prescribed;
• (viii) Loan facilities for marriage, higher education, medical
treatment from nationalized banks at subsidized rates; and
• (ix) Ex-gratia payments for construction of permanent
dwelling units.
 Welfare of Differently abled Labour
• According to the Persons with Disabilities (Equal opportunities,
Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, The Differently
abled persons are those who are Mentally illed or Persons with
Disabilities or the handicapped persons.
• Category of Disabilities: Cerebral (Brain/ intellectural) palsy, Hearing
Impairment, Leprosy Cured Person, Permanent paralysis of limbs,
Mental Illness, Mental Retardation, Low Vision/blindness and Autism.
• Population of the differently abled Persons in the state
• As per the 2001 Census data, total population of differently abled
persons in India is 2,19,06,769 and population of differently abled
persons in Tamil Nadu is 16,42,497.
 Cont.
• Welfare measures
• 1. The Government is committed to ensure 3% reservation in
employment for differently- abled persons.
• 2. Action is being taken to establish vocational training centers with
residential facilities through Voluntary Organizations in order to
create employment opportunities for Differently abled Persons in
private sector.
• 3. Imparting in plant training under the scheme of Ministry of Special
Justice and Empowerment during which clients are given stipend to
sustain their interest and motivation in the training.
• 4. Sponsoring and assisting the handicapped persons to utilize the
facilities of reservations against the seats in various educational
training institutions
• 5. Recommending the handicapped persons for grant of loans by the
concerned financial institutions under differential rate of interest or
setting up at different ventures under various self employment
 Cont.
• 6. Recognition of Special Schools for Differently-abled Persons:
Permission to start

• Special School and Recognition for running Special School for the
differently-abled students.

• 7. National trust: The National Trust Act was enacted in 1999 for
the welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental
Retardation and Multiple Disabilities, with the main objective to
enable and empower persons with these disabilities to live as
independently and as fully close to the community to which they
belong.
 Educational assistances for the differently abled students
• i. Special education: With an objective to provide special
education. Special
• schools are run by Government, catering to the needs of
differently abled students
• who require special education due to visual impairment, hearing
impairment, mental retardation and severely affected lower and
upper limb.
• There are 23 Government Special Schools – 10 for the Visually
Impaired, 11 for the Hearing Impaired, 1 for the Severely
Locomotor disability and 1 for the Mentally Retarded.
• Differently abled children studying in Government Special Schools
are provided with special education, boarding, lodging and two
sets of uniform. Teaching and learning materials, vessels, furniture
and play materials are also provided to all Government Special
Schools.