As the Government of India strives at making India one the most favorable destinations to do business and to improve the business environment in the country, each and every of its ministries are doing their best to make this a reality so as to meet the benchmarks set by the Doing Business Project of the World Bank.

The present write up briefly discusses the initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Labor & Employment (the 'Ministry') in recent past which not only includes developments on the technology front but also many changes in the prominent legislations with the sole aim to bring in more clarity and alleviation in conducting businesses. Notably, through transformative reforms both legislative as well as governance, the Ministry has taken various steps to endorse and uphold the scheme of 'Ease of Doing Business in India'.

The Ministry is one of the oldest and important Ministries of the Government of India. The main responsibility of the Ministry is to protect and safeguard the interests of workers in general and those who constitute the poor, deprived and disadvantage sections of the society, in particular, with due regard to creating a healthy work environment for higher production and productivity and to develop and coordinate vocational skill training and employment services. Government's attention is also focused on promotion of welfare and providing social security to the labor force both in organized and unorganized sectors, in tandem with the process of liberalization. These objectives are sought to be achieved through enactment and implementation of various labor laws, which regulate the terms and conditions of service and employment of workers. The State Governments are also competent to enact legislations, as labor is a subject in the concurrent list under the Constitution of India. At present, there are 44 labor related statutes enacted by the Central Government dealing with minimum wages, accidental and social security benefits, occupational safety and health, conditions of employment, disciplinary action, formation of trade unions, industrial relations, etc.1

EASE OF REGISTRATIONS ONLINE REGISTRATION FOR EMPLOYEE PROVIDENT FUND (EPFO) AND EMPLOYEE STATE INSURANCE (ESIC)

  • Employer can now undertake apply allotment of Registration Number for EPFO and ESIC online with no manual intervention on real time basis and the registration number allotted is displayed immediately once online form is satisfactorily y / successfully submitted.
  • This eradicates visits of officials from concerned authorities for collection of any documents.
  • Independent portals for registration: EPFO at https://unifiedportal.epfindia.gov.in  and ESIC at www.esic.in/ESICInsurance1/ESICInsuranceportal .
  • Also, if the employer needs to register for both EPFO and ESIC, a common registration form is available at the eBiz Portal of Department Of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP).
  • Further, earlier mandatory requirement of furnishing details of Bank account at the time of registration has now been made optional for EPFO, and there is no such requirement at all in case of ESIC.

COMMON REGISTRATION SERVICE ON THE E-BIZ PORTAL OF DIPP:

The Ministry has launched the Common Registration on-line Service on the e-biz Portal of DIPP, for registration under 5 Central Labor Laws namely the Employees Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, the Building & Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, the Contract Labor (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970, and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen(Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act, 1979.

COMPLIANCE OF LABOR LAWS - SHRAM SUVIDHA PORTAL

(HTTPS://SHRAMSUVIDHA.GOV.IN/HOME):

An integrated portal has been launched to bring transparency and accountability in enforcement of labor laws and ease complexity of compliance.

THIS PORTAL RELATES TO FOUR MAJOR LIMBS / ORGANIZATIONS OF THE MINISTRY, NAMELY:

  • Office of Chief Labor Commissioner (Central),
  • Directorate General of Mines Safety,
  • Employees' Provident Fund Organization; And
  • Employees' State Insurance Corporation

The portal also introduces two key factors; a) introduction of inspection services, b) discontinuance of discretion of the Inspector in selection of unit.

EASE OF PREPARING & FILING RETURNS UNDER LABOR LAWS:

Introduction of Single Online Common Annual Return under nine Central Labor Acts2 on Shram Suvidha Portal facilitating filing of simplified Single Online Return by the establishments instead of filing separate Returns, under the relevant Acts Independent generation of online Electronic-cum- Challan Receipt (ECR) for both EPFO and ESIC along with online filing and payment of contribution

EASE THROUGH SIMPLIFICATION OF REGISTERS AND FORMS:

The Ministry replaced the 56 Registers/Forms under 9 Central Labor Laws and Rules made thereunder in to 5 common Registers/Forms in furtherance to its "Ease of Compliance to maintain Registers under various Labor Laws Rules, 2017" Notification dated 21.02.17.3

The replaced Registers / Forms will not only save efforts & costs but also reduce the compliance encumbrance for establishments / employers.

A software for the said 5 common Registers/Forms is also being developed by the Ministry for facilitating maintenance of those registers in a digitized form in accordance with the provisions made in the above said notification/Rules. The software will be put on the Shram Suvidha Portal of the Ministry for free download.

Without a doubt the above discussed initiatives are solely aimed to (apart from digitalization of records) assist the establishments / employers to be duly compliant with the statutory requirements of good-record keeping.

Footnotes

1 http://www.labour.nic.in/about-ministry

2 Payment of Wages Act, 1936, Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Contract Labor (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Act, 1996, Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and conditions of Service) Act, 1979, Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and the Mines Act 1952.

3 http://labour.gov.in/whatsnew/ease-compliancemaintain-registers-under-various-labour-laws-rules-2017

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.