My dear Labour Minister,
                The Unorganized Sector Workers Social Security Bill, 2007, has passed by the parliament but it has not yet come into force. It is far from being an adequate bill which would satisfy the needs of the unorganized workers who form nearly 80% of the working population of the country. The latest draft prepared by the Arjun Sen Gupta Commission has been given a go bye. Among important points raised in criticism of this bill are;
1. It has not been made applicable to the family of the worker nor has the family been defined.
2. The Act will come into force on a date as the central government may notify. So, it has left it to the pleasure of the next government to enforce it or to kill it depending upon its priority.
3. Although, the title of the bill includes the word social security which is normally related to employment and means of livelihood. It neither commits the government to secure employment for the workers who is unemployed or inadequately employed nor provides any social security benefits in the case of unemployment.
4. It does not prescribe a living wage or minimum income for the worker and his family who are unemployed.
5. The most important omission is that the term unorganized sector leaves out enterprises which employ less than 10 workers which in effect means that a vast majority of the workers in this sector shall be left out, including those who are the worst affected such as the workers in brick-kilns and in small retail shops.
Most of the provision of this bill relate to welfare scheme already in existence.
In view of the fact that the arms of the government are never long enough to catch the employers who exploit unorganized workers. A role could have been statutorily provided for trade union which would have facilitated reaching out to such employers.
We can only hope that the next government which comes to power attends more sympathetically to the problem of social security of the workers in the unorganized sector, overwhelming majority of whom belongs to the marginalized weaker-sections among SC/ST and Minorities.
With kind regards