Six crore BPL families to be covered under social security

New Delhi, Apr 23 (UNI) Minister of State for Labour Oscar Fernandes today said six crore BPL families in the country will be covered initially under a social security scheme that will include a smart card for cashless transaction and an old age pension.

In his reply in the Rajya Sabha on a discussion raised by CPI member D Raja on the working of the Labour and Employment Ministry and which was debated by 14 members in the House, Mr Fernandes said his ministry had overshot the budgetary expenditure by 392 per cent from the allotted budget of Rs 345 crore in 2007-08.

However, in 2008-09 with an allocation of Rs 800 crore the Ministry had incurred an expenditure of Rs 1638 crore, the Minister said.

''The mandate of the ministry is to protect workers and create a healthy working environment,'' the Minister said.

The Minister said action has been taken to eliminate child labour and enhance the quality of vocational training of the underprivileged children.

The health of workers has been given primary importance and occupational safety focused upon.

He said pays have been revised in many cases and the social security cover increased.

Mr Fernandes said 1,396 training institutes were in the process of being upgraded.

Other members who spoke on the Labour Ministry discussion included Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena and Gopal Vyas of BJP.

Eds: Pick up suitably from earlier series.

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