20 Oct :The Central Government has enacted various laws for the welfare of women workers. A meeting of the Central Advisory Committee on Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 was held at New Delhi on 24th June, 2008 in which various suggestions were made by the members to improve the working conditions of Women Workers viz. social security, insurance coverage, better facilities for skill development, constitution of State level advisory boards etc. The State Governments were requested to take follow-up action on these recommendations.
Several laws have been enacted by the Government to secure reasonable working conditions for women employees and to prevent their exploitation. These include the Factories Act, 1948, the Plantations Labour Act, 1951, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, the Inter-State Migrant Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, the Buildings and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 etc. which provide inter-alia, crèche facilities for the benefit of women workers, time off for feeding of children during working hours, provision of maternity leave and separate toilets and washing facilities for female and male workers near the workplace as well as safe working conditions.
The Government has introduced a scheme of assistance for the construction/expansion of hostel building for working women with day care centre for their children. Further, a Grant-in-aid scheme through Voluntary Organizations/ Non-governmental Organizations for awareness generation of women workers about their rights etc. is also implemented.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shri Oscar Fernandes (Independent Charge) in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.