The Ministry of Labour and Employment will soon start collecting the Aadhaar details of workers in the unorganised sector for implementation of future social security schemes, though no one will be denied benefits for the lack of Aadhaar, Labour Secretary Apurva Chandra said on Wednesday.
The Ministry on Monday notified Section 142 of the Code on Social Security, 2020, which enables the government to collect Aadhaar data of workers for its national database of unorganised workers. The Code itself is yet to be implemented as the Rules framed under it have not been notified. Once implemented, the Code will allow social security benefits to be extended to the large unorganised sector, the government has said.
Mr. Chandra said the purpose of notifying Section 142 was to allow the collection of Aadhaar data of workers. He said the national database was at an “advanced stage”. The National Informatics Centre had been given ₹45 crore in March to set up the software for the database, and the work would be completed in two or three months, he said.
“No benefit will be denied to anyone for lack of Aadhaar,” he added.
He said the Ministry would start work on the database and sensitise States about the same. The Rules, as well as those framed under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, are ready, but there was no timeline for when they would be notified and implemented, according to the Ministry officials. The three codes, along with the Code on Wages, 2019, were brought in by the government to replace 29 Central labour laws, but are yet to be implemented.
On Tuesday, the 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 would govern trade unions. The Ministry invited comments on the draft rules for 30 days.
The All-India Trade Union Congress said on Wednesday that the draft rules would allow interference by employers in the functioning of unions. AITUC general secretary Amarjeet Kaur added that while the IR Code, 2020, subsumed three Acts, the draft rules published this week only covered the Trade Union Act and that the “piecemeal approach would create further confusion”.
