NITI Aayog, the policy think-tank of the Central government, published its latest recommendations on Wednesday. In a document titled ‘Strategy for New India @75’, it advocated for labour reforms,a minimum wage, raising the participation of women workers, improving employment data collection, and broadening social security.The Aayog also made a case for easing industrial relations to encourage formalisation. It said there should be increase in severance pay, in line with global best practices.It also asked for overhauling the labour dispute resolution system, and for strengthening labour courts or tribunals to help resolve disputes quickly and fairly.Labour law reformsIt pointed out that a large number of workers in the unorganised sector are not covered by labour regulations and social security. This dualistic nature of the labour market in India may be a result of the complex and large number of labour laws that make compliance very costly.In 2016, there were 44 labour laws under the statute of the Central government. More than 100 laws fall under the jurisdiction of state governments.The think-tank suggested that the government quickly finish codifying India’s labour laws, while simplifying or modifying those that apply to the formal sector – to optimally balance flexibility and security.The National Policy for Domestic Workers should also be brought in at the earliest, it said.Keeping women in the workforceThe think-tank asked the government to ensure that employers adhere to the recent Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act. It is also important to implement these legislations in the informal sector, and make sure that skills training programmes and apprenticeships include women, the document said.Also Read: Will NCW’s Proposed Policy on Workplace Harassment Really Help Women?Employment dataThe government should ensure that data collection for the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PFLS) of households is completed on schedule and data is disseminated by 2019. It also asked the government to conduct an annual enterprise survey using the Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN) as the sample frame and increase the use of administrative data, namely EPFO, ESIC and the NPS, to track regularly the state of employment while adjusting for the formalisation of the workforce.Workers’ welfareThe document asked the government to make compliance with the national floor-level minimum wage mandatory, and to expand the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, to cover all jobs, besides enforcing the payment of wages through cheque or Aadhaar-enabled payments for all.On social security and working conditions, it asked the government to enact a comprehensive occupational health and safety legislation based on risk assessment and employer-worker cooperation.Also Read: Labour Reform is Fine But Who Holds Employers to Account When Government Fails?Workers’ housing on-site will help to improve global competitiveness of Indian industry, it said, apart from enhancing workers’ welfare. It recommended enhancing occupational safety and health (OSH) in the informal sector through capacity-building and targeted programmes, and ensuring the compulsory registration of all establishments to ensure better monitoring of occupational safety.It also made a case for enhancing transparency in the labour inspection system by allowing online complaints and putting in place a standardised and clear mechanism.A large share of India’s workforce is employed in low productivity activities, it said, with low levels of remuneration across industry sectors. This is especially true in the informal sector, where wages can be one-twentieth of those in firms producing the same goods or services in the formal sector.Skills and apprenticeshipsThe Aayog highlighted that, according to the India Skill Report 2018, only 47 per cent of those coming out of higher educational institutions are employable.It said the Labour Market Information System (LMIS) is important for identifying skill shortages, training needs and new employment opportunities. It said LMIS should be made functional urgently and government should ensure the wider use of apprenticeship programmes by all enterprises – which may require enhancing the government stipend.