The government is committed to the welfare and upliftment of marginalised sections of the society, particularly labourers, landless and those working in the unorganised sector, the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Monday.
Addressing a gathering at the launch of ‘muhafiz’, a welfare scheme for around three lakh workers of the unorganised sector in the state, the Chief Minister said that there is an urgent need to improve the quality of life of people of this sector “which is the building block of development and progress of the society.”
She underscored the need for concentrating on education and quality upbringing of the wards of these workers, besides extending other social security benefits to them, an official spokesman said in a statement.
“Compensation in case of deaths, accidents or injuries has to be there. But efforts should be made to make their day-today life better, besides focussing on the education and upbringing of their wards,” she said, complimenting the department of labour for coming up with such an initiative.
Mehbooba said that recently her government took the “historic” decision of regularising the services of 60,000 casual workers who had to “run from pillar to post only to get some remuneration released occasionally on some festivals in a year.”
The Chief Minister advised the labour department to ensure that more workers, particularly females, are covered under the scheme. She assured that the government would take all steps to improve the quality of life of the working class.
The Chief Minister, on the spot, announced enhancement of monthly scholarship amount to the children of workers from Rs 1200 to Rs 1500, the spokesman said.
On the occasion, Mehbooba unveiled the micro-credit linked debit card of the J&K Bank for these workers, launched an insurance scheme for them and also the website of workers’ welfare board.
The scheme has been launched to commemorate the second death anniversary of late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed who fought relentlessly for the welfare of marginalised all along his life, an official spokesman said.
Earlier, in his address, deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh said that during a brief time of less than three years, the present government has taken “many landmark decisions” aimed at the welfare of all sections of the society. He said that the daily wages of labour class have been guaranteed with a major hike in last many years. He said the regularisation of 60,000 casual workers would go down as one of “the biggest welfare initiatives” by any government in recent times.
Minister for finance, labour and employment HaseebDrabu outlined the broad features of the scheme. He said that under it, Rs 4 lakh would be paid to a worker registered with welfare board in case of an accidental death, Rs 2 lakh in case of a normal death, Rs 2 lakh in case of permanent disability and Rs 1 lakh in case of partial disability. He said, in addition, the credit facility of Rs 10, 000 would be paid to workers in case of minor exigencies. He said that in the coming times safety equipment including helmets, slippers, uniforms and other safety gear would be provided to workers.
He said that Jammu and Kashmir will soon be perhaps the only state in the country to have uniform labour laws.
“We are doing away with around 260 archaic laws and have a comprehensive and uniform labour law in the state to deal with the issues facing the labourers,” Drabu said.
Chairman, J&K Bank; Parvez Ahmad; labour commissioner Abdur Rashid; executive director, Life Insurance Corporation of India, T R Mendiratta and other senior officers besides a large number of workers were present on the launch ceremony.