PM Modi to address first labour ministers' conference in eight years

Move comes in the backdrop of PM's vision for the next 25 years in preparation for 100th year of independence; 44th session of the National Labour Conference has been named Vision Shramev Jayate @2047

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the 44th National Conference of Labour Ministers and Secretaries of all states and Union Territories on Thursday via video conferencing. The two-day conference is being organised by the Union Ministry of Labour & Employment on 25-26 August, 2022 at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. The conference will be presided over by Union Labour Minister Bhupinder Yadav.

“The conference is being convened in the spirit of cooperative federalism to discuss various significant labour related issues. It will help create further synergy amongst the centre and state governments in formulating better policies and ensuring effective implementation of schemes for the welfare of workers,” said the labour ministry in a statement.

The move comes in the backdrop of the Prime Minister’s vision for the next 25 years in preparation for India’s 100th year of independence. Accordingly, the 44th session of the National Labour Conference has been named Vision Shramev Jayate @2047.

The conference will have four thematic sessions on integrating e-Shram portal for on-boarding social security schemes to universalise social protection; Swasthya se Samriddhi for improving medical care through Employees' State Insurance (ESI) hospitals run by state governments and integration with Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY); framing of rules under four Labour Codes and modalities for their implementation; Vision Shramev Jayate @ 2047  with focus on just and equitable conditions of work, social protection to all workers, including gig & platform workers, gender equality at work, among other issues.

The formulation of the rules for the implementation of four labour codes that replace the mass of existing labour laws, along with the strategies for greater participation of women, understanding the needs of digital and gig economy, welfare of migrant workers, as well as transitioning towards green jobs will also feature in the two days long meet. 

This is the first labour ministers conference in the eight years of the Narendra Modi government. The last such conference was held in 2012, which had stressed upon ensuring harmonious industrial relations and welfare of the working class in India, including the large informal working class.   

Indian Labour Conference, which is also a consultative committee in the Labour Ministry, consisting of the government, employers and workers hasn’t also been convened in the past seven years. The last conference was convened by the centre in 2015, under the presidency of the then labour minister Bandaru Dattareya. Last year, the RSS affiliated labour union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh had written to the Prime Minister urging him to convene the Indian Labour Conference, pointing to the several burning issues like that of migrant workers, labour law reforms, informal sector workers, contract workers in the formal sector, loss of jobs and wage reduction during the pandemic.