CLAIM

To create a safe, healthy, and conducive environment for women to participate in the workforce of the country and contribute to the development of VIKSIT BHARAT to the best of their ability – Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Labour Codes will Improve Working Conditions of Workers especially in the Unorganised Sector

“All organisations which have more than 10 employees must set up internal committees to review complaints of sexual harassment” – Minister of Labour in 2022 in Parliament

‘Review the working conditions and enhance the remuneration of anganwadi workers’ – BJP 2014 Election Manifesto

‘We have very significantly increased the honorarium of ASHA and anganwadi workers’ – BJP 2019 Election Manifesto

Paid maternity leave increased from 12 to 26 weeks by amending the Maternity Benefit Act in 2017.

TRUTH

During the Covid pandemic, 47 per cent of women workers who went out of work between March and December 2020, suffered permanent loss of jobs, compared to 7 per cent of male workers.

Female labour force participation rates in India are among the lowest in the world. The recent increase to 37 per cent, it is mainly due to an increase in self- employment among rural women which has increased to 70 per cent. The majority of them work in agriculture. Around 40 per cent are in the category of unpaid helpers. Only 10 per cent are regular salaried workers. The proportion of women in regular salaried work without any social security benefits increased to 58 per cent in the rural areas and 51 per cent in urban areas. This means that the increase is mainly distress driven with increased precariousness of work and vulnerable livelihood conditions.

Time Use data collected by the Government shows that 92 per cent women in the working age group spend more than 5 hours every day in unpaid household work compared to only 29 per cent. There have been no policy measures to alleviate this drudgery. Access to clean drinking water remains a challenge. The steep increases in the costs of cooking gas to more than Rs 1000 per cylinder have added to the burdens of women.

Despite the passage of the Wage Code in 2019, which guarantees equal and minimum wages, the wage gap between men and women is 34 per cent in salaried employment, 50 per cent in  casual employment and as high as 160 per cent in self-employment.

The Codes on Occupational Safety and Health and Social Security 2020 are supposed to provide protection to unorganised sector workers. But several sections, for example domestic workers of whom women form a large number, probably a majority, are denied minimum wages and lack social protection.

A study shows that 9 out of 10 domestic workers are compelled to do additional, unpaid work beyond what they agreed to. Live-in workers are more vulnerable to physical abuse and harassment. Despite several private members Bills to being introduced, the Modi Government refused to pass legislation to protect the rights of domestic workers during its entire tenure.

At least two crore women are engaged in Home Based Work, working for a pittance. The work is done by all the women in the family. A draft National Policy given to the Modi Government that recommends fair piece rates has been ignored.    

The attitude of the Modi Government towards sexual harassment at the workplace became clear in the case of the women wrestlers who had to take to the streets because their complaints against the BJP MP who was the Chairman of the Wrestling Federation were ignored.

Despite there being a steady increase in complaints, fifty nine percent of respondents from a 2024 survey said that their organisations had not set up Internal Committees that are mandated by the PoSH Act, 2013, but the Government has failed to act against them.

The Central and State Governments are the worst offenders since most of their offices and other worksites have not implemented the PoSH Act either. The report says that forty per cent of women feel unsafe at their workplaces as result of various forms of sexual harassment and thirty percent of employees opined that legitimate cases of sexual harassment are swept under the rug.

Anganwadi workers and helpers have not received any increase in remuneration from the Government of India since 2018. At present, the monthly ‘honorarium’ announced by the Government of India for an anganwadi worker is Rs 4500, for mini anganwadi worker it is Rs 3500 and for a helper it is Rs 2250. The remuneration of ASHA workers is stagnant at Rs. 2000 since 2018, while that of Mid day Meal workers has not increased since 2009! This is despite the fact that during the pandemic all these workers risked their lives extending their duties in all the three waves from quarantine centres to vaccination. Whatever increases in salaries that they have received in this period have come after long and bitter struggles and have been paid paid by State Governments.

Around 80 lakh workers, overwhelmingly women, employed in various Government of India schemes continue to be denied recognition as ‘workers’. The consensus recommendations of the 45^th and 46^th Indian Labour Conferences (ILCs)that scheme workers including anganwadi workers and helpers, ASHAs, Mid Day Meal (MDM) Workers, NCLP (National Child Labour Project) teaching and non-teaching staff should be recognised as ‘workers, paid minimum wages and provided social security benefits’, have been totally ignored. The Supreme Court order that Anganwadi workers and helpers should be paid gratuity remains unimplemented even after two years.

The budgetary allocation for the schemes, in which these women work – ICDS, NHM, MDMS etc. – has been drastically curtailed by the Modi Government; for the ICDS by 55 per cent, for the MDMS by 30 per cent and for NHM by 20 per cent. The Government is trying to dismantle and privatise these schemes by handing them over to corporates like Vedanta, PepsiCo, Patanjali and NGOs like ISKON.

As far as increasing the coverage of maternity benefits are concerned, most women are being pushed into the unorganised sector, into agricultural work and unpaid work and taken out of the purview of the Act.

In the private sector, most women are employed as contract or outsourced workers and are denied benefits under the Act. With the dismantling of the inspection mechanism, things will get worse. It is to be noted that the Government denies maternity benefits to ASHA and Mid Day Meal workers who are implementing its own schemes.

The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana pays only a one-time benefit of Rs 5000 that has remained unchanged since 2017, when the NFSA13 mandates Rs 6000. It has been recently increased to Rs 6000 only for the second girl child. Hardly 20 per cent of the eligible beneficiaries are able to access the scheme, and after making Adhaar mandatory for registration, that number declined by 46 per cent in 2022. The budgetary allocation declined by 17 per cent in 2023-24 compared to the previous years. Only 29 per cent beneficiaries received both instalments.

Women workers are performing unpaid and badly paid labour and forced to multi-task to eke out a miserable, existence for themselves and their families.  This takes a huge toll on their health and well-being.

PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN WORKERS!  DEFEAT BJP!

Published by Communist Party of India (Marxist)