Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the government will bring to Parliament a bill to amend the Bonus Act with a view to enhance the benefits for the working class.

“We are going to bring an important (bill) in this House (to amend) Bonus Act.The Cabinet has already approved it. This is a very important bill for our workers. We are taking decisions and working for welfare of the labour class,” Modi said while replying to a two-day long debate in the Lok Sabha to commemorate the Constitution Day and the 125th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.

The Cabinet had earlier decided to double the wage ceiling for calculating bonus to Rs 7,000 per month for factory workers and establishments with 20 or more workers.

The bill also seeks to enhance the eligibility limit for payment of bonus from the salary or wage of an employee from Rs 10,000 per month to Rs 21,000.

Modi also said that the government has fixed the minimum pension under the EPF scheme at Rs 1,000 per month.
He said earlier people were getting pensions as low as Rs 7 and Rs 20 per month which was even insufficient to cover the transport cost.

While talking about these issues, Modi hailed Baba Saheb Ambedkar for providing in the Constitution a cap of eight hours a day on working hours for labourers.

The Payment of Bonus Act 1965 is applicable to every factory and other establishment in which 20 or more persons are employed on any day during an accounting year, he said.

As per the Cabinet decision, the new norms would come into force from April 1, 2015. The bill also provides for a new proviso in Section 12 which empowers the central government to vary the basis of computing bonus.

At present, under Section 12, where the salary or wage of an employee exceeds Rs 3,500 per month, the minimum or maximum bonus payable to employees are calculated as if his salary or wage were Rs 3,500 per month.

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/

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