Published: 23rd March 2015 06:04 AM

HYDERABAD: In an effort to make the country investor-friendly and to present it as a best destination for doing business, the Union government will introduce a bill to amend the existing labour laws across the country during the second phase of the budget session of Parliament which will begin on April 20.

Disclosing this at a media conference here on Sunday, Union minister of state for labour and employment (independent charge) Bandaru Dattatreya said the amendment to the existing labour laws would benefit not only the company managements but also the workers.

Stating that the proposed amendment to labour laws which also include amendment to Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act’ 1952 would bring the threshold of coverage from 20 employees to 10, he said this would ensure a wider coverage and extension of social security benefits to hitherto uncovered areas. “The amendment would benefit over 50 lakh workers across the country,” he said.

According to Dattatreya, the government would amend the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, to protect the interests of the children. Such initiative would help in creating employment opportunities.

“In my department itself we are expecting to create over 1 crore jobs in the next two years. This is only the beginning, more such initiatives would be taken up in the coming days to provide employment opportunities in various sectors.”

Coming down on the Congress, Left and some regional parties for creating hurdles in the passage of some bills in Parliament, Dattatreya said these parties were trying to disrupt Parliament just for political mileage. “Parliament is for dialogue, debate and discussion, and not for disruption,” he said.

Despite all their efforts to block the bills introduced in Parliament, the government was successful in having most of them passed and the rest would be passed in the second phase of the budget session, he said.

Refuting the allegations made by the Left Parties and other parties that the Modi government was pro-corporate, Dattatreya said the bills introduced in the budget session were proof that the government was actually pro-people.

Toll-free Number for UAN Holders

The Union government will shortly introduce a toll-free number for Universal Account Numbers (UAN) holders through which they will be able to get details of their Provident Fund accounts.  Disclosing this here on Sunday, Union minister of state for labour and employment Bandaru Dattatreya said the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had issued 4.35 crore UANs, out of which 44 lakh were activated. “The UAN will be portable throughout the working career of members and can be used anywhere in India. Thus, workers in the organised sector will not need to apply for transfer of PF account claim on changing jobs. This would facilitate online submission of transfer claims by members with an objective to make the transfer transparent, efficient and comfortable for employees,” he added.