Vaibhav Chadha
The Lok Sabha on August 10, 2016, passed the The Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha by Minister for Labour and Employment, Bandaru Dattatreya. The Bill seeks to amend the Factories Act, 1948. The main objectives of the Factories Act is to ensure safety and promote the health and welfare of the workers employed in factories. The Act was previously amended in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1970 and 1976. In the year 1987, the last amendment was made to it, wherein a separate chapter relating to hazardous process was introduced.
Over the last 20 years, since the last amendment was made, various developments have taken place across the globe. Such developments include changes in the manufacturing practices, ratification of ILO Conventions, recommendations of various committees, emergence of new technologies, judicial verdicts and decisions taken in the Conferences of Chief Inspectors of Factories.
With flagship programmes like Make in India, Skill India and Digital India, huge investment in various sectors has been flowing in the country. The amendments to the Factories Act boost the manufacturing sector, create employment opportunities and shall also ensure ease of doing business in the country for the domestic as well as foreign investors.
In order to give effect to these changes and boost the manufacturing sector, a comprehensive Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2014, was introduced on August 7, 2014, in the Lok Sabha. But the said Bill was referred to the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour for examination. Since consideration and passing of the aforesaid Bill in Parliament was taking time, the Government decided to amend Sections 64 and 65 of the Act urgently to extend the total number of hours of work on overtime.
The existing Act allows a State Government to lay down rules related to the regulation of overtime hours of work, double employment, conditions related to exemptions to certain workers, etc. Under the Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Union Government will also be empowered with rule-making powers along with the States.
Earlier, under Section 64 of the Factories Act, 1948, only the State Government could make rules:
- To define the persons who would hold positions of supervision or management or are employed in a confidential position in a factory
- To exempt certain types of adult workers in factories, to such extent and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed from fixed working hours, periods of res:
But now, such rule making power has been conferred on the Centre to ensure uniformity in its application by various State Governments and Union Territories.
Some important features of the Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2016 are:
- To increase the limit of overtime hours under Section 64, from the present limit of 50 hours per quarter to 100 hours per quarter;
- To further enhance the limit of overtime hours under Section 65, to maximum 125 hours per quarter in public interest.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) prescribes the time limit of 144 hours and the working hours enhanced by the Government are very well within the limits stipulated by the ILO. While participating in discussion on the Bill, Union Labour Minister Dattatreya said that the changes made in the law would enable workers to “work more and earn more”. The Minister clarified, “The proposal to increase over time period by amending Sections 64 and 65 is not at all mandatory; it is upto the worker to decide. There is no compulsion on him or her but it is an incentive to get the double wages. Whenever the overtime hours count, it will be double wages. …”
With flagship programmes like Make in India, Skill India and Digital India, huge investment in various sectors has been flowing in the country. The amendments to the Factories Act boost the manufacturing sector, create employment opportunities and shall also ensure ease of doing business in the country for the domestic as well as foreign investors.
(The writer is research associate at Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, New Delhi)