Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Workmen's Compensation (Occupational Diseases) Convention (Revised), 1934 (No. 42) - India (Ratification: 1964)

Other comments on C042

Observation

2012

Direct Request

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Improvement of coverage and application in practice. The Committee notes that the two Acts through which the Convention is applied were recently revised: the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, was amended by the Employees’ Compensation Act, 2009, and the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Act was amended by the ESI (Amendment) Act, 2010. The Committee notes with interest that these revisions broaden the coverage of both Acts and that the Employees’ Compensation Act now provides for the full reimbursement of actual medical expenditure incurred for treatment of occupational injuries, enhances the minimum rates of compensation and sets a mechanism for their re-evaluation from time to time. The Committee notes that the ESI scheme would now cover 15.4 million employees. It observes that, according to section 2(9)(ii) of the ESI Act, contract workers are also covered by the scheme. The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report information and statistics regarding the number of contract workers actually receiving ESI benefits. With regard to the application of legislation in practice, the Committee observes that the number of detected and compensated occupational diseases remains as low as 50 for the 2011–12 period, three types only of occupational diseases having been registered. While noting the initiatives mentioned in the Government’s report, such as the establishment of the Institute of Occupational Health and Environment Research or the training of dispensary doctors on occupational diseases, the Committee can only conclude that the current mechanisms for screening and compensating occupational diseases are not effective. The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to take more significant action in consultation with the social partners in order to raise their awareness of the risks of occupational diseases and the need to make prevention, screening and compensation of occupational diseases part of the enterprise culture.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2013.]