National policy document on HIV/AIDS

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

The release of union government's national policy document on HIV/AIDS is indeed

laudable. The policy will enable to preserve the rights of the people living

with HIV/AIDS ( PLHA) and minimize the stigma and discrimination against this

dreaded disease.

As one of the focuses of the policy is work place initiative, the workers and

their families shall be able to avail the care, support and ART and most

importantly the work place discrimination will come down which has been a major

psychosocial factor associated with this disease.

All sections of the society should cooperate to fulfill all the agendas of this

policy as the policy would help to create awareness about HIV/AIDS, enable

people to prevent the transmission of this disease and enliven and enabling

support and care initiative in the work places.

Dr ( Major) D J Borah

SCTIMST

Thiruvananthapuram-695011

Kerala

Ph. 9495834335

e-mail: <dj_b20@...>

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National Policy on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work” launched at 43rd Session of

the Standing Labour Committee

________________________________________

13:58 IST

“The National Policy on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work”, a policy document

formulated by the Ministry of Labour & Employment was launched here today by the

Union Minister of Labour and Employment, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge. This was

released at the 43rd Session of the Standing Labour Committee held here today.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Kharge said that HIV/AIDS is a major threat to

the world of work and it has shown maximum impact on the most productive segment

of the labour force. It has emerged as a major workplace issue requiring urgent

attention from all stakeholders. Keeping this in view, he said Ministry of

Labour & Employment has developed a National Policy on HIV/AIDS and the World of

Work after intense consultations with ILO (International Labour Organization),

NACO (National Aids Control Organization) and Social partners. The policy will

help to generate awareness about HIV/AIDS, encourage action to prevent its

spread and further improve and develop the support and care initiatives at the

workplace, the Minister hoped.

The policy aims at preventing transmission of HIV infection amongst workers and

their families; protect right of those who are infected and provide access to

available care, support and treatment facilities, deal with issues relating to

stigma and discrimination related to HIV/AIDS by assuring them equity and

dignity at the workplace and ensure safe migration and mobility with access to

information services on HIV/AIDS.

Shri Kharge also called upon the States to implement the Contract Labour

(Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 in right earnest and expressed concern that

some States have poor performance in this regard. The Minister informed that the

Tripartite Working Group constituted in pursuance of the recommendations made by

the Indian Labour Conference (ILC) to examine the provisions in the Contract

Labour (R & A) Act, is expected to give its recommendations by 31st December this

year.

Emphasizing the importance of the Tripartite Conferences and Committees like SLC

and ILC, the Minister said that over the years, their recommendations have

shaped and influenced labour policy in all its aspects. The recent amendment in

the Payment of Bonus Act was as a result of the deliberations of an earlier

session of ILC as also the announcement of various welfare schemes viz., Aam

Aadmi Bima Yojna, Old Age Pension Scheme and Health Insurance Scheme, which are

clear examples of fruitful outcome of effective and frank social dialogue

amongst social partners, Shri Kharge added.

Dwelling upon the state of unemployment in the country, he said that there is an

open unemployment of 10.8 million as per estimates available for the year

2004-05 and the country also faces the problem of working poor. Shri Kharge

pointed out that open unemployment in India is not much compared to the size of

population but it is the under employment in terms of productivity and income,

which is of great concern.

The Minister said that the 11th Five Year Plan Document envisages that 58

million new job opportunities will be created during the 11th plan period. The

11th Five Year Plan provides an opportunity to restructure policies to achieve a

new vision based on faster, more broad-based and inclusive growth, the Minister

said.

Shri Kharge said that an environment for inclusive growth has been created by a

few flagship schemes of the Government already in operation. In this context, he

mentioned several schemes like National Rural Health Mission, National Rural

Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) and prominent self employment programmes

like Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Yojna,

Swaranajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna and the Rural Employment Programmes etc.

The Minister said that our Government has taken up a huge task of upgradation of

500 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) into Centres of Excellence (COE) in

the country which will provide multi-skill courses catering to the need of a

particular cluster of industry around an ITI to produce multi-skilled workforce

of world standard. The Ministry has developed a special Modular Employable

Skills (MES) framework for skill development for early school leavers and

existing workers, especially in the un-organized sector in close consultation

with industry, micro enterprises, State Governments, experts and academia.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shri

Harish Rawat said that Social Security mechanisms have emerged as the savior at

the time of crisis. Shri Rawat informed that the Government intends to provide

Social Security benefits in a sequential manner to the vast unorganized sector.

Shri Rawat said that a labour intensive strategy goes a long way in developing

rural economy and this has been borne out by National Rural Employment Guarantee

Act (NREGA), which aims at enhancing the livelihood security of the rural

masses.

Stating that low skill workers, the poor and the marginalized were most affected

during the recent global economic crisis, Shri Rawat said that the Government

scaled up the resources for labour market to arrest the impact of the crisis on

the most vulnerable sections of the society. Due to the coordinated efforts in

response to the crisis, our economy has slowly started showing signs of

recovery, Shri Rawat added.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary (Labour & Employment) Shri P.C. Chaturvedi

said that the Ministry of labour continues to have consultation with the social

partners to obtain a consensus for enacting new laws or bringing about changes

in the existing laws. He said that the Ministry has taken significant steps for

simplification of labour laws. He said that on the recommendation of the

National Social Security Board, a sub-committee of the Board is presently

exploring the possibility of extending the social security schemes for

unorganized workers.

http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=53728