Congress Announces Guarantees for Workers: Social Security, Urban Employment, Permanent Govt Jobs

On behalf of his party, Kharge has also promised a comprehensive social, economic and caste census.

Business Standard reports that the party also made another five guarantees, each for shramik nyay (labour justice) and hissedari nyay (participatory justice) on Saturday (March 16).

‘The Congress Party guarantees a comprehensive social, economic and caste census. Through this, the population, socio-economic condition of all castes and communities, their share in national wealth and their representation in institutions related to governance will be surveyed,’ Kharge said, listing out guarantees under hissedari nyay.

Under the umberella of shramik nyay, the Congress has listedfive ways of doing this; swasthya adhikar (right to health), shram ka samman (dignity of labour), shahari rozgar guarantee (urban employment guarantee), samajik suraksha (social security) and surakshit rozgar (guaranteed secure employment).

With surakshit rozgar, it is targeting the contractual jobs in the public sector which have brought public government jobs to a low in the past ten years, with record, unfilled vacancies.

In a bold move, ‘The Congress will stop contractualisation of employment in core government functions. Contract labour will be the employment of last resort only, requiring clear justification and protection for the rights of workers. Contract employment in the private sector will be required to meet minimum standards of social security.’

The Congress has said it ‘guarantees a comprehensive review of the anti-worker labour codes passed by the Modi Government, and to make suitable amendments to strengthen the rights of labour.’

This five-point shramik nyay announcement completes the 25-point guarantees Congress had promised. The party has already announced five guarantees each for youth, women, farmers and social justice.

IANS reports that Congress has said that it will also get back the Special Component Plan for SCs as well as the Tribal Sub-plan, and make it enforceable by law, as done by some Congress governments in states. These sub-plan ensures a fraction of the annual budgetary allocation to be dedicated to SC and ST communities in accordance with their share in the population.

It was introduced by late prime minister Indira Gandhi in the 1970s but abolished in 2014 by the BJP government, Kharge said.

Congress will also guarantee protection for Adivasi forest rights. ‘The Congress guarantees to resolve all pending Forest Rights Act claims within 1 year and establish a transparent process to review rejected claims in 6 months. The Congress will also extend MSP guarantee to Minor Forest Produce and withdraw all anti-tribal amendments to the Forest Conservation Amendment Act and Land Acquisition Act,’ Kharge is reported as having said.

As part of samajik suraksha, the party has offered a guarantee for ‘comprehensive social security for all unorganised workers, including life insurance and accident insurance.’ A shahari rozgar guarantee ‘will bring an employment guarantee act for urban areas, with a focus on building public infrastructure, making cities resilient to climate change, and bridging gaps in social services.’ This is effectively a promise to extend the MNREGA to urban areas, a longstanding demand, especially with the country registering high levels of urban unemployment of late.

The party has promised shram ka samman with ‘a national minimum wage of Rs 400 per day, which will also be the minimum for all MGNREGA workers nationally.’ The guarantee of swasthya adhikar will probably see implementation in the form of a law, modelled on the Rajasthan law enacted by the Ashok Gehlot government in the state last year. This will ‘provide universal healthcare, including free medicines, treatment, essential diagnostics, rehabilitative and palliative care, and surgery.’