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- October 2019
Index
Toppers Talk
Art & Culture
Polity
- Right to access internet is fundamental right declares Kerala High Court
- Legal rights of Deities in India, Difference in Natural and Juristic Person
- Bru refugees refuse to return to Mizoram
- No animal sacrifice in Tripura temple-Orders High Court
- EC’s Order on Reducing Sikkim CM’s Disqualification Period
- Law Ministry issues corrigendum to Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act
- Appointment of the Judges in India.
- New Chief Justice of India- How is CJI appointed?
- Indian Penal Code 1860, HM Amit Shah wants to Overhaul IPC
- National Population Register (NPR) 2020
- Whistle Blowers Allegations on Infosys
Governance & Social Justice
- 60% girls in Delhi colleges anaemic
- Niti aayog’s School education quality index
- Multipurpose National Identity Card
- Population pyramid : India Vs China, Demographic dividend Phase of India
- UN Population Report, India will become the most populous country by 2027
- Supreme Court upholds SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendments Act
- Comparing Population Pyramids of India and China
- Waqf boards-Their governance and purpose
- Harvard Admissions Case
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana- Ist Anniversary, Problems and solutions
- Significance of sexual and Reproductive Health-Status of reproductive services in India
- Pregnancy in Old Age, What is In Vitro Fertilisation-Risks and legal shortcomings
- Supreme Court Judgement on NGOs and RTI
- Social Stock Exchange
- Rajasthan Govt changes EWS norms, Sets Rs 8 lakh family income as only criteria
- Global hunger index 2019
- No Government job for those with more than two kids
- Ranitidine CANCER risk
- IIT Council Introduces Tenure track system
International Relations
- Bangladesh growing faster than India ?
- Cyprus dispute explained
- Donald Trump impeachment
- India wins Hyderabad Nizam case against Pakistan
- India’s reply to Pakistan at UNGA
- Prime Minister of Malaysia calls India and invader in Kashmir
- Should India recognise the armenian genocide ?
- Why are CARICOM countries important for India ?
- Why are countries leaving OPEC ?
- Attacks on Saudi Oil facilities
- Organization of Islamic Cooperation issues statement on Jammu and Kashmir
- Sri Lanka’s relations with India & China
- US troops start pullout in Syria as Turkey prepares for operation
- What are Vanilla Islands?
- India-USA trade deal
- UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award-2019
- Modi – Xi Informal meet at Mamallapuram – Historic Chinese links
- India China informal summit in Tamil nadu
- Pakistan save from FATF blacklist till 2020
- USA blacklists China organisations over Uighur Muslim abuse
- Why is Chile burning ?
- Why is the Philippines important for India
- Xi jinping Nepal visit 2019 and impact on India
- India Pakistan Cross LOC Trade suspended, Should India revoke suspension?
- Protests in Lebanon
- Chennai to Vladivostok Sea Route
- End of baghdadi
- Indian government’s security advisory
- Indians no longer require Visa to visit Brazil
- Non Aligned Movement 2019 summit
- US backed Ceasefire between Turkey and Kurds
- Pakistan stops postal exchange with India
- China’s GDP growth slows to 6% slowest in 27 years
- Common Goods for Health project by WHO
- Turkey attack Kurds in Syria
Geography
Economy
- Behavioural Aspect of Farmer Suicide
- Is rural India really open defecation free ?
- Global Growth Slow Down
- Nobel Prize in Economics 2019
- Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
- SBI wrote off bad loans worth 76,000 crores
- Surge in Onion Price
- Agriculture Credit by RBI’s Internal Working Group
- What is Debt to GDP Ratio?
- Yes Bank Crisis
- Nobel prize in Literature – Controversy
- Boosting Indian Exports
- Sopore Fruit Mandi deserted
- What is Pink Collarisation?
- Mizoram to have Broad Gauge railway line by 2021
- Demand downturn in Indian Economy
- Payment facilitation fund
- Participatory Guarantee Scheme
- RBI’s 4th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy 2019-20
- Tourism restrictions lifted in Kashmir
- Link between Jobs, Farming, and Climate
- Draft Social Security Code 2019
- State Tax Revenues, SGST and Central Tax Devolution are likely to fall short
- Competitiveness Index 2019 by World Economic Forum
- NITI Aayog’s Water Resources Strategy
- BSNL and MTNL financial issues-DoT prepares Rs 74000 crore revival plan
- 20th Livestock Census
- India falls 10 ranks in World economic forum’s Global competitiveness index
- RBI stops Printing Rs 2000 Notes
- What is the Unified Approach proposal of OECD?
- FCI granaries overflowing
- India’s Economic Growth 2019
- Financial Sector Scams in India
- Labour Market of India
- New Strategic Disinvestment Process
- Payment Delays to Sugarcane Farmers
- Why India’s IMF Quota is not increased
- What is monetary policy Transmission? Why banks are not reducing interest
- Mahatma Gandhi’s theory of Economics
- India moves up 14 spots to 63 on world Bank ease of doing business index
- New amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act
- Power Sector Scenario in India
- Telecos to Pay Rs 96,642 crore to the Government
- Camel population declines in Rajasthan
- Merger of BSNL and MTNL
- World bank on Indian economy
Defence & Security
- Nagas Kukis Conflict, What is the cause of the latest tensions?
- Case against 50 Celebrities controversy
- Can Indian Government intercept WhatsApp?
- UP Government fires 25000 home guards, Is Yogi Government’s decision justified?
- NCRB’s Crime in India 2017 report
- Aadhaar Social Media mandatory linking case
- What is TechSagar? National repository of India’s cyber tech capabilities.
Disaster Management
Science & Technology
- ISRO’S Project NETRA
- Facebook’s LIBRA Currency in trouble
- WHO launches first World report on Vision
- 2019 Nobel prize in physics
- 2019 Nobel prize in Physiology and Medicine
- Elon musk’s starlink project
- NASA’s ICON mission
- New King of the Moons in the Solar system is Saturn
- What Is Spectroscopy ?
- Quantum supremacy
Environment
- Climate Vulnerable Mapping Of India
- C40 Cities
- Gujarat Unveils emission trading scheme
- Forest Plus 2.0
- Himalayan States seeks Green Bonus
- India to Phase Out Single Use Plastic (SUP) by 2022
- Role of Volcanoes in Global Warming
- NH 766 ban controversy, Protests in Kerala against night traffic ban on the forest stretch
- Climate Change needs Global Solution
- Aarey Forest -2185 trees to be cut for Mumbai metro
- Government to build 1400 km long Green wall
- Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi
- Aerosol formation brightening clouds
- Anthrax outbreak in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, Two affected buffaloes died
- Species in News from June to October 2019
- Climate Action Summit 2019
Prelims bits

Tag:GS 3 || Economy || Structure of the Indian Economy || Labour & Unemployment
What is the issue?
- The third draft of the 2019 Social Security Code aimedat amalgamating, simplifying and rationalizing the related provisions of the central labor laws.
- The draft Code merely clubs the relevant sections of the existing statute without specifying how these issues are to be addressed.
- The code fell short of the stated purpose.
Key highlights of the draft
- Insurance, PF, life cover for unorganized sector employees: The central government shall, from time to time, devise and inform appropriate welfare schemes for unorganized workers on matters relating to life and disability coverage, health and maternity benefits, old age protection, and any other benefits as defined by the central government.
- EPFO and ESIC corporation: The corporate body will be the pension, insurance and income saving bodies like EPFO and ESIC. The head of such organizations may not be the labor minister, labor secretary, central PF commissioner or general manager of ESIC by definition.
- Benefits for Gig Workers: ‘ Central Government may, from time to time, formulate and notify appropriate social security schemes for gig workers and platform workers, ‘ and such schemes would include issues such as ‘ life and disability coverage, ‘ ‘ health and maternity benefits, ‘ ‘ old age protection ‘ and ‘ any other benefit as determined by the Central Government.’
- Maternity Benefits: According to the other provisions of this Code, every woman is entitled to and is responsible for the payment of the maternity benefit at the rate of the average daily wage for the duration of her actual absence, that is, the period immediately preceding the day of her delivery and any period immediately after that day.
- The Code on Social Security, 2019 once in place will merge eight exiting labour laws including Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923; Employees‘ State Insurance Act, 1948, Employees‘ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952; Maternity Benefit Act, 1961; Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972; Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981; Building and Other Construction Workers Cess Act, 1996 and Unorganized Workers‘ Social Security Act, 2008.
Flaws in the draft
- This merely brings current organized business schemes together.
- Ambiguity over the basic criteria for social security benefits, such as the total number of employees in a company and the length of service, has been avoided.
- The basic structural and conceptual flaws in the code are,
- No uniform” social security”
- There’s no central account. It is proposed that the corpus be divided into numerous small funds which generate a multiplicity of authorities and confusion.
- It is uncertain how a better alternative is the planned abolition of current and operational systems, such as the Provident Fund Organization of Employees (EPFO).
- No clear definition of main categories such as jobs, salaries, the principal-agent in a contractual situation; and industries that are “organized-unorganized.”
- This will continue to obstruct the extension to all parts of employees of main social security benefits such as PF, gratuity, maternity benefits, and healthcare.
- There is no government obligation to contribute to the social security programs mentioned, even though the Code is explicit about contributions from employees and employers.
What is unclear?
- It is heartening to welcome aboard large sections of the workforce such as those working in taxi aggregate companies.
But it is not clear how exactly the government is planning to promote access to PF or medical care.
- The nature of the relationship between the company and the employee, and therefore the obligations, is not defined in these cases.
- If employers in the unorganized sector are expected to pay the EPFO payment bill, the cost of doing business will be substantially higher.
Failed examples
- For similar reasons, existing benefits for unorganized workers have not materialized.
- For example, construction workers were not registered by the 22-year-old Building and Construction Workers ‘ Cess Fund.
- They were not able to make effective use of the fund.
- The Fund is registered with less than 3 crore employees and all State welfare boards are set up.
- Official estimates: Over 5 crore construction workers.
- Unions’ estimate: Over 10 crore construction workers.
- Almost all other welfare schemes administered by central or state governments for unorganized workers are in a similar situation.
Way forward
- Comprehensive healthcare and a quality education program will tap into social security, enhance earnings from work-life, and enhance next-generation earning potential. Rethinking social security in ways that are comprehensive, if not unorthodox, would be useful.
- It should mandate the gig workers to buy insurance and save for old age, perhaps by automatically deducting a fraction of the payments received into their bank accounts into insurance/pension accounts, say, in the National Pension System.
- The government should address long-term structural issues and simplify the existing labour laws.
Conclusion
- Social security is a necessity for all workers, but the present draft is still very tentative and does not specify whether there will be wage security, life insurance, medical facility for all or not.
- Social security should include worker retraining, not just unemployment allowance.
- Social security should help elders deploy their skills to match the demand anywhere in the world.
Mains moel question
- What is the significance of the Draft Social Security Code? Explain
References