Textiles ministry gets Labour panel rap

The Ministry of Textiles has come in for some flak from the Standing Committee on Labour on the functioning of two of its schemes...

The Ministry of Textiles has come in for some flak from the Standing Committee on Labour on the functioning of two of its schemes 8212; Textile Workers8217; Rehabilitation Fund Scheme and health insurance schemes. The committee in its final report has expressed dissatisfaction on the ministry8217;s replies to its suggestions on the two schemes, noting that 8220;the ministry has not moved an inch from their stand with respect to removal of ceiling in TWRFS8221; while it has not furnished a 8220;time frame for the launch of a new health insurance scheme8221; for weavers.

In its interim report the committee had recommended that annual coverage per family under the Health Insurance Scheme be increased ten fold to Rs 1,50,000 from the current Rs 15,000. It had also recommended that areas of critical care like cancer should also be brought into the ambit of the scheme and the ceiling should not apply in such cases.

The ministry in its response had said that LIC is formulating a new scheme to provide critical illness cover at a much lesser cost. But it did not provide details of the proposed scheme neither did it give a time frame for it. The ministry is silent on the issue of increasing the annual coverage ceiling. 8220;With the LIC scheme in the offing, we have very little to do in this matter. Only after looking into the merits of the new product will we decide whether to merge the present scheme with it or not,8221; said a senior textiles ministry official. The current Health Insurance Scheme for handloom weavers offers medical facilities at an annual premium of Rs 1000 per weaver.

The ministry has also been criticised for fixing a wage ceiling for eligibility to TWRFS. The committee had called the eligibility parameters of wage equivalent to Rs 2500 for mills which had closed between Jume 1985 and April 1993 and Rs 3500 for mills that closed between thereafter as 8220;unrealistic and definitely anti-worker8221; and had asked the ministry to make the wage limits more flexible and also include mills of public and cooperative sectors.

Squashing the ministry response citing lack of funds both budgetary and from the state for the low wage ceiling, the panel said that 8220;welfare of workers cannot be compromised merely due to state governments not sharing the financial burden8221; adding that since the scheme is a central government scheme contribution from the state government is not mandatory.

Rehabilitation 038; Health Insurance

8226; Ministry criticised for TWRFS 038; Health Insurance Scheme.

8226; No commitment on raising annual health coverage

8226; No time line for LIC8217;s new policy as well

8226; Ministry ignored suggestion to lower TWRFS wage limit

8226; Committee absolves state governments

8226; Says Central schemes can8217;t be dependent on state funds