Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that a bill intended to protect the rights of domestic workers and home nurses will come into force in the State soon.
The Kerala CM said that the bill, which is likely to be tabled in the next Assembly session, will ensure a number of benefits and rights for workers in aided projects of the state that have large women participation. The government aims to ensure minimum wages and pensions for such workers in the state through the Domestic Workers (Regulation and Welfare) Bill.
The Chief Minister was speaking at the inauguration of a three-day International Labour Conclave in Thiruvananthapuram organized jointly by the Labour Department and the State Planning Board to mark the 100th anniversary of Kerala’s association with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
“Kerala’s approach to development is based on care for all sections of workers, cutting across divides along the lines of religion, caste, gender, and other social conditions. By 2025, extreme poverty would be eradicated from Kerala and in the next 20-25 years, by taking all sections of the people along, the State would achieve development on par with middle income countries,” Vijayan said.
According to the CM, the various programmes of skill development conducted by different departments would be brought under a single umbrella to avoid duplication of efforts. The coordination and monitoring of all the skill development projects would be brought under a State level mission.
The government is aiming at making Kerala a friendly destination for knowledge economy and technology. As part of this, a host of programmes were being formulated and implemented. He said that the “Karmachari” project of the Labour Department that provides opportunities for students to work along with their studies, was such project.
Meanwhile, Labour Minister V Sivankutty said that all sectors of employment were facing multiple challenges across the world and that Kerala which lays emphasis on the welfare of workers and passes legislation and adopts policies in order to ensure their social and financial progress, was determined to anticipate such problems and to take necessary measures to tackle them.
He said that the government expected the conclave to evolve new ideas and formulate measures in order to enable qualified candidates to face the challenges in the labour sector posed by modern advances.
