Providing social security to the citizens, especially to those who contribute to the growth and development of the National Economy, is one of the major responsibilities of the State, and enactment of the Employees Provident Fund Act of 1952, by the Govt. of India was a positive step in this direction. On this backdrop, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry today organised a seminar on Employees’ Provident Funds and M P Act – Implementation & Difficulties.

Welcoming the guests and speakers at the occasion, Chairman, Industrial Relations Committee, PHDCCI, Ravi Wig said, “Around 93% of our total population works in the unorganized sector and their contribution to our economy is approximately Rs 262.8N. Thus, it’s imperative to take up labour issues and work upon how effectively construction labours covered by EPF will get a better return on their provident fund taxes and the Indian capital market will also get further boost. He further highlighted that there are lot of doubts and difficulties while implementing the provisions of the EPF Act. “In order to achieve the objectives of the Provident Fund Scheme, it is must to ensure a high degree operational and administration efficiency of the PF Organization instead of time consuming formalities. The present EPF and MP Act have lot of burning issues and confusions.” Wig added.

Deliberating on the provisions of the EPFO, Commissioner, Central Provident Funds, R.C. Mishra said that social legislation for the labours is the need of the hour. He candidly said that the present labour laws are impractical and we need comprehensive amendment in EPF Act.  Accepting the need of a Permanent Account Number and non availability of a central database in EPFO, Mishra added that they are working towards a process where redundancy in work can be reduced.

Announcing filing of claims to come online on couple of months,Mishra stressed that Contributory Card has now become mandatory for the employees and the employers. He claimed that he has sped up the process of decision making at EPFO and due to computerisation paper work has reduced to a great extent.

Addressing the implementation and difficulties in the EPF Act 1952, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment,  Ravi Mathur said that in order to provide socio-economic security to the workers of both organised and unorganised sector, the need of the hour is to make wages of all labours same. He added that ministry of labour is struggling with the present situation and thus the state govt should take initiative for developing schemes for construction workers.

Present on the occasion were the Senior Vice President, PHD Chamber, Suman Jyoti Khaitan, Chairman, Infrastructure Committee, PHD Chamber, Ashish Wig, and Co-Chairman, HR & IR Committee, PHD Chamber,Bharat Mehta.