A two-day seminar on Workers In Unorganised Sector — Challenges & Way Forward organised by State legal Services Authority, UT, Chandigarh concluded on Sunday at Chandigarh Judicial Academy. The event inaugurated on Saturday by Justice TS Thakur, Judge, Supreme Court of India and Executive Chairman, National legal Services Authority (NlSA), New Delhi was attended by eminent speakers including the Judges, senior bureaucrats, professors and advocates.
The agenda for the colloquium set by Justice Hemant Gupta, Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court & Executive Chairman, State legal Services Authority, UT of Chandigarh the previous day to secure basic human rights for workers in unorganised sector and need for the NlSA and SlSA’s to act as a watchdog for expeditious implementation of centrally & State sponsored beneficial schemes, was taken forward.
During the two-day long colloquium, issues pertaining to Women labor in unorganised sector; implementation of Unorganised Workers Social Security Act 2008 & Building and Other Construction Workers Act; Migrant labors; Employee provident Fund and providing legal services to workers in unorganised sector were discussed. The 3 working sessions were chaired by Justice TS Thakur, Justice AK Goel, Judge, Supreme Court, Justice Arun Palli, Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court respectively and were co-chaired by Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Rajiv N Raina, both Judges in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and KK Jalan, IAS, Central Provident Fund Commissioner respectively.
The main idea was to brainstorm about the problems relating to workers in unorganised sector in implementation of legislative measures and social welfare endeavors by the Governments. The event was attended by judicial officers, officials of various departments of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh including labour, social welfare, child and women development and health as well as social workers, mediators, legal aid counsel, paralegal volunteers, representatives of the trade unions and employers.
Anupam Malik, Additional labour Commissioner, Haryana raised concern regarding sexual harassment of female workers and placed on record to the necessity for quick response against such atrocities and sensitisation of public at large qua legal remedies and social values. Piyush Sharma, Additional labour Commissioner (Retd) pointed out that paucity of funds and administrative delays in extending beneficial schemes are main reasons for the current under privileged condition of construction workers and rural artisans.
Harish Nayar, Additional labour Commissioner, Punjab suggested adoption of technology for dissemination of benefits under welfare schemes by using online reception of application and organising registration camps.