Labour Ministry notifies Section 142 of Social Security Code, 2020

Ministry of Labour & Employment has notified Section 142 of the Social Security Code, 2020 which covers the applicability of Aadhar. It will enable the Labour Ministry to collect Aadhar data of workers in the Unorganized Sector.

• The Aadhar details will be uploaded in the National Database for Unorganised Workers (NDUW) which is being developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).
• It will help the government to extend benefits to the workers under various social security schemes.
• The Social Security Code, 2020 is yet to be implemented in India.

Section 142

• Section 142 provides for establishing the identity of an employee or an unorganised worker or any other person through the Aadhaar number for seeking benefits and availing services under the Social Security Code, 2020.
• The Social Security Code 2020 will subsume nine labour laws. They include The Employee’s Compensation Act, 1923; The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948; The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952; The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 and The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
• The other laws that will be subsumed are The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972; The Cine-Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981; The Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996 and The Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008.

Key Points

i.NIC was allocated INR 45 Crore to develop software for NDUW, it is expected to be completed soon.

ii.The Labour Ministry also notified the draft Industrial Relations (Central) Recognition of Negotiating Union or Negotiating Council and Adjudication of Disputes of Trade Unions Rules, 2021 which will govern trade unions.

iii.In September 2020, President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to 3 Labour codes –

Code on Social Security 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Condition Code 2020, and the Industrial Relation Code 2020.

• These 3 Labour Codes along with the Code on Wages, 2019 merged 29 Central Labour Laws into 4 broad legislations.
• The 4 labour Codes were set to come into effect on April 1, 2021, but were deferred as State Governments have not finalized the rules yet.

Recent Related News:

i.On November 10, 2020, the Ministry of Finance gave its nod for the creation of the first-ever “National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW)” with an expected outlay of Rs 650 crore.

About Ministry of Labour & Employment

Minister of State (Independent Charge) – Santosh Kumar Gangwar (Lok Sabha – Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh)