LS calls for Central law to protect farm labour

New Delhi, Dec 8: The Lok Sabha today bemoaned the pathetic condition of agricultural workers, made worse by the ongoing process of liberalisation and globalisation, and asked the government to enact a Central legislation to protect them.

The members highlighted the hard and deplorable conditions in which they live, their exploitation by the powerful interests in rural areas, the worsening of their conditions in the era of globalisation and liberalisation and their marginalisation in a social and an economic system where inequalities were worsening.

The members were participating in a discussion on a private members Bill to provide for the welfare of the agricultural workers and to regulate their employment and conditions of service.

The Bill was introduced by Mr Honann Mollah(CPI-M) on November, 24, 2006, who continued the debate.

Mr Mollah said while every section had been given protection, the poor agricultural workers remained deprived of any social security worth the name.

He said agricultural workers belonged to the lowest strata of society like scheduled castes and tribes for whom there was no system of pensions, drinking water facilities, sanitation or any other basic amenities.

''They just live in garbage,'' he remarked.

Mr S K Kharventhan (Congress) said the crisis in agriculture had aggravated the poverty of farm labourers and blamed the rapid industrialisation and urbanisation as having led to shrinking of farm lands.

Mr Rasa Singh Rawat(BJP) deplored the poor implementation of the Minimum Wages Act and the absence of housing and education facilities for agricultural workers.

The proposal called for a Central legislation in view of the fact that there was no law applicable to them on all India basis so as to provide for security of their employment, regulation of hours of work, provision of Provident Fund, and settlement of disputes pertaining to them.

Participating in the discussion, Sailendra Kumar (SP) said the recently appointed Dr Arjun Sengupta Committee had submitted its report to the Government in which the committee had recommended for the setting up of a welfare fund for these unorganised agricultural workers with contributions from the Centre, workers and the State Government.

Sugrib Singh (BJD) said there was an urgent need for review on the functioning of the Planning Commission as they had not been able to do justice for the unorganised labour over the past 60 years.

C K Chandrappan (CPI) said the UPA government made some huge promises but two and a half years had already passed and they were yet to show their performance on this.

He said for carrying out any legislation on this, the ruling party needed a political will and if they failed to deliver the goods to the people in time, they would meet the same fate as met by NDA in the last general elections.

Intervening in the discussion, the Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said it was surprising that not a single line was mentioned on Science and Technology in the State's planning process and until and unless they approached the Centre, it would be difficult to provide them with the right technology and urged the members to prevail upon their State Governments to interact with his Ministry in this aspect.

Mitrasen Yadav (BSP) said this bill will prove how sincere the Left party was towards their workers. He said this was the right time for them to ask the Government either to bring a legislation on this or otherwise to give up its support to the government.

Dr R Sentel (PMK) and K Francis George (KC) also participated in the discussion.

The discussion time was extended by one more hour which would be taken up some other day as it remained inconclusive today.

UNI