PM says, keeping with the spirit of the mantra of “Shramev Jayate”, Government is committed to the welfare of Labour

Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar released a special stamp on Labour Bureau on the occasion of centenary year celebrations of the Labour Bureau in an event held here today. Director General Posts, Shri Vineet Pandey also present on the occasion.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi gave a special message to Labour Bureau on this occasion. In his message, the Prime Minister while congratulating Bureau on release of special stamp in its centenary year, also highlighted that for the last hundred years, Bureau has been generating labour, price and employment statistics with great allegiance and dedication. The message also stated that in keeping with the spirit of the mantra of “Shramev Jayate”, the Government committed to the welfare of labour has taken continuous and integrated steps for labour. The Prime Minister also opined that the Three historic labour codes will not only protect the interests of hardworking workers but will also form the basis for increasing productivity to higher levels. The Prime Minister also stated in his message that availability of reliable statistics on labour and labourers are vital for effective policy making and planning for welfare of labour. Given the significance of data and its increasing usage in various fields, the Bureau’s rich legacy of data generation needs to be fully capitalized for better policy making in the field of labour and employment. He also expressed firm belief that Bureau will continue to upgrade its working by embracing latest technologies in the field of data collection, analysis and dissemination. The Prime Minister also conveyed his best wishes for all the future endeavors of Bureau.

The Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shri Gangwar Gangwar while addressing the participants said that besides its mandate of generating various price and labour related statistics, “the Bureau has also earned appreciation for successfully undertaking in record time, all the surveys & studies entrusted to it by the Governments from time to time. When employment data used to be available in our country only once in five years, Bureau became the first ever Government organization in the country to produce annual data on employment and unemployment through its annual All India Household Surveys on Employment Unemployment. The Bureau also conducted first of its kind Quarterly Employment Surveys (QES) of enterprises which will be relaunched in a new format very soon. Bureau was also entrusted with the task of estimating employment generated under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) which it carried out in record time”.

“The Bureau has recently been entrusted with four All India surveys on migrant workers, domestic workers, employment generated by professionals and transport sector which will be launched by early March, 2021 and the results of these will be available by October, 2021”, he said while addressing senior officers and staff from Ministry and the labour Bureau. Stating that the focus of the Ministry is on equal rights for organized and unorganized workers, he said, “Mehnat ko Samman, Adhikaar ek Saman’ represents the emphasis of our Government on equal rights for organized and unorganized sector workers. However, for any evidence based policy making for these workers ‘authentic data’ on employment in organized and unorganized sector enterprises is highly called for”. Minister also informed that Bureau will soon launch an ‘All India Quarterly Survey on Employment of Enterprises’ to address these data needs.

The Minister also stressed upon preserving and strengthening the century old legacy of Bureau in labour, price and employment statistics which he added gives Bureau a definite edge over other data organizations in the country.  While calling for greater use of Information technology in its working, the Minister said “I am very hopeful that Bureau will transform its working in the times to come through greater use of information technology which will enable it to effectively meet the rapid demands for data in the field of labour and employment”.

Shri Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Labour & Employment while addressing the participants elaborated that how starting with compilation of cost of living index numbers for workers and collection of administrative statistics in the 1940’s, over the years the mandate of Bureau has increased exponentially to now include collection and compilation of data on all possible aspects of labour. “Our Ministry which itself is one of the oldest and which aims at protecting and safeguarding the interests of workers, has immensely benefitted from the services of Bureau which provide valuable data for evidence based policy making”, he added. He also highlighted that given Bureaus rich experience in collection of statistics under the labour laws, it is proposed to designate Labour Bureau as the nodal agency for collection of statistical returns under all the four labour codes.

DPS Negi, Director General, Labour Bureau in his opening remarks emphasized on the relevance of labour statistics generated by Bureau, he said, “Labour Bureau has been consistently producing relevant labour statistics all through these years. The data so produced ranges from the price indices to capture inflation in goods and services consumed by labour, their socio economic conditions, statistics on industrial labour, wages, employment to data related to implementation of labour laws”. He also states that the work related to launch of four All India surveys on Migrant workers, Domestic Labour, Employment generated by professionals and transport sector is underway in full swing. “The Bureau is also gearing up to take up its role as the nodal agency for collating statistical returns under all the four labour codes. Given our rich experience in compiling returns under the labour laws already, I am confident that we will live up to the expectations as far as data collection under the  labour codes is concerned”, he said on the proposal of making Bureau as nodal for collection of statistical returns under the four labour codes. On the importance of the ‘All India Quarterly Survey on Employment of Enterprises’ which has been approved by the Ministry he said that the survey will provide comprehensive data on the employment numbers in both the organized and unorganized sectors.