Speaking at the 5th CII National Council meeting Mrs Gauri Kumar, Secretary, Labour & Employment, aid that shop floor level productivity and therefore the vocational training is going to be a major driver of the Make in India program.
She said that labour is one of the critical factor of production. Highlighting at length on the good governance initiatives being taken by Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE), she reiterated that it was MoLE's continuous endeavour to ensure that the interests of the two sides converge. She said that MoLE was trying to bring in transparency and accaccountability in the system so that this convergence is visible.
Elaborating on the initiative, she said that the Govt. has launched the Shram Suvidha Portal to create a conducive environment for industrial development. The portal will enable filing of self-certified Single Annual Return.
Furthering on the transparency angle, she said that more than the Act it is the manner of enforcement which raises the burden of compliance on industry. In order to mitigate this, Ministry of Labour has launched a Transparent Labour Inspection Scheme wherein it is mandatory to upload the Inspection Report within 72 hours. Based on this system, the Ministry has assigned 13000 inspections and around 10000 inspection report has been uploaded on the site.
Secretary said that in order to provide more flexibility for Small and Medium enterprise, Govt. is already proposing a separate Labour Laws for Small and Medium enterprises.
In order to create a Demand Responsive Vocational Training and Career Services, Secretary said that the Govt. has amended the Apprenticeship Scheme with a vision to have more than 20 lakh apprentice in next few years against present 2.9 lakh. The new amendment will also enhance the stipend to almost double the amount.
Welcoming the Secretary, Mr Ajay Shriram, President, CII said that to make ourselves globally competitive, India with the largest youth population must equip and nurture our youth with the right kind of education, skill-set and opportunity to reap this demographic dividend.