Simplification of Labour Registers
The Government has simplified the maintenance of labour registers for approximately 5.85 crore establishments in both agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. These registers pertain to employee details, salaries, loans/recoveries, attendance, etc. This initiative will significantly reduce the number of registers maintained by these establishments from 56 to only 5 by eliminating overlapping and redundant fields. This will help these establishments save costs and efforts and ensure better compliance with labour laws.
Requirement Under Central Labour Acts
Under various Central Labour Acts, there is a requirement for maintaining registers based on the number of employees in the establishments within agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. According to the Sixth Economic Census conducted by the Central Statistical Office during 2013-2014, India has about 5.85 crore establishments in these sectors combined, with 4.54 crore in the non-agricultural sector. Upon reviewing the requirement for filing various returns/registers/forms under 9 Central Acts, several overlapping and redundant fields were identified for rationalization.
Notification and Implementation
An intention notification was issued on 4th November 2016 to reduce the number of registers/data fields. This was widely circulated to concerned ministries, departments, state governments, and other stakeholders, and placed in the public domain. Consequently, all previous registers envisaged under various Acts/Rules have been omitted and replaced with only 5 common registers. This exercise has reduced the number of data fields in these registers to 144 from the previous 933 fields across 56 registers.
Development of Software for Registers
The Ministry of Labour & Employment is also developing software for these 5 common registers. Once developed, the software will be available for free download on the Shram Suvidha Portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, aiming to facilitate the maintenance of these registers in a digitized form.
Labour Laws Governing the Registers
The labour laws under which these registers are maintained include:
(i) The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996
(ii) The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970
(iii) The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
(iv) The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979
(v) The Mines Act, 1952
(vi) The Minimum Wages Act, 1948
(vii) The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
(viii) The Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976
(ix) The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1955
The Government has simplified the maintenance of labour registers for approximately 5.85 crore establishments in both agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. These registers pertain to employee details, salaries, loans/recoveries, attendance, etc. This initiative will significantly reduce the number of registers maintained by these establishments from 56 to only 5 by eliminating overlapping and redundant fields. This will help these establishments save costs and efforts and ensure better compliance with labour laws.
Requirement Under Central Labour Acts
Under various Central Labour Acts, there is a requirement for maintaining registers based on the number of employees in the establishments within agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. According to the Sixth Economic Census conducted by the Central Statistical Office during 2013-2014, India has about 5.85 crore establishments in these sectors combined, with 4.54 crore in the non-agricultural sector. Upon reviewing the requirement for filing various returns/registers/forms under 9 Central Acts, several overlapping and redundant fields were identified for rationalization.
Notification and Implementation
An intention notification was issued on 4th November 2016 to reduce the number of registers/data fields. This was widely circulated to concerned ministries, departments, state governments, and other stakeholders, and placed in the public domain. Consequently, all previous registers envisaged under various Acts/Rules have been omitted and replaced with only 5 common registers. This exercise has reduced the number of data fields in these registers to 144 from the previous 933 fields across 56 registers.
Development of Software for Registers
The Ministry of Labour & Employment is also developing software for these 5 common registers. Once developed, the software will be available for free download on the Shram Suvidha Portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, aiming to facilitate the maintenance of these registers in a digitized form.
Labour Laws Governing the Registers
The labour laws under which these registers are maintained include:
(i) The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996
(ii) The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970
(iii) The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
(iv) The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979
(v) The Mines Act, 1952
(vi) The Minimum Wages Act, 1948
(vii) The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
(viii) The Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976
(ix) The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1955
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