KOCHI: Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya on Monday said steps would be initiated to ensure the Employee’s State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and PF benefits also for those working in the unorganised sector in a phased manner.
“The schemes to extend the ESIC benefits to the various sectors are in the pipeline. The Centre has set sights on bringing nine crore households under the scheme by 2019 from the present 3.5 crore households. There are around 4.7 crore labourers employed in the construction sector alone. Steps have been initiated to bring them under the EPF,” he said.
“Anganwadi staff and ASHA(accredited social health activist) workers will be brought under the ESIC cover in the next phase.
“The renovation of the ESIC hospitals will also be carried out during this phase. This will be followed by steps to bring the domestic help and the auto drivers under the cover,” Dattatreya told reporters here.
According to the minister,” the ESIC hospitals will soon offer Ayurveda, Unani, Yoga and Homoeo streams as well”.Earlier, Dattatreya, who visited the ESIC hospital at Pathalam, said the hospital would be raised to the status of a super speciality hospital and an additional 100 beds would be provided.
Besides, he declared the Centre’s intention to provide shelter to the country’s homeless by 2020. Commenting on the CPM-BJP clashes in Kerala,Dattatreya said the ruling party ought to show more patience.
“Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan must initiate efforts to broker peace. Violence has no place in democracy,” he said.
He accused the state government of paying more attention to violence instead of focusing on development. “The BJP’s meteoric rise has scared the daylights out of the Left parties. There has been a major erosion of support for the Leftist movements since old slogans will not help to expand the party base,” he said.
Underscoring the Centre’s intention to ensure society’s all-round development, Dattatreya said,”E-governance and legislative reforms like the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)were initiated to ensure there was across-the-board development.
“Longer maternity leave, higher bonus and increased minimum wages were steps taken by the government to ensure everyone derived the benefits of the development push.”
According to the Minister, the Working Journalists Act would be amended, if necessary, to bring the journalists working in the electronic and visual media also under the Wage Board.
A meeting of the stakeholders, including the state Labour Ministers, would be convened to discuss the matter.