In the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, the Government said it was considering amendments to Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) provisions to make it applicable to every establishment in which ten or more persons are employed.
Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Bandaru Dattatreya said that at present, these provisions are applicable only to establishments which employ 20 or more people.
He said the government was committed to providing social security to those in the unorganised sector, and referred to a pilot project for rickshaw pullers as an initiative to spread social security benefits on a wider scale.
Dattatreya was speaking after members raised questions relating to their own problems with social security cover.
Some members raised arguments that even government establishments were employing only contract labour, while some others spoke of the meagre salaries paid to contract labour.
The minister assured members that if any violation of the prescribed laws came to his attention, he would press for action.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)