The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Code on Wages Bill, which subsumes existing laws regarding minimum wages and other workers’ remuneration issues as part of the government’s efforts to improve ease of doing business.
Speaking to the media after the Cabinet meting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said the Cabinet had approved Bills on arbitration, wage code and surrogacy, but details of these could not be shared publicly till Parliament was informed since it is in session.
As a part of its ease of doing business initiative, the government will be subsuming a total of 44 labour laws into four codes — on wages, social security, industrial safety and welfare and industrial relations.
The government had brought the Code on Wages Bill, 2017 in the Lok Sabha on August 10, 2017, but it had lapsed when the 16th Lok Sabha was dissolved earlier this year. Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar had said the Bill would be brought in the ongoing session of Parliament, which is scheduled till July 26.