Casual Labour: Govt of India’s 1993 Scheme
The Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status and Regularization) Scheme of the Government of India, implemented in 1993, is a program designed to provide temporary status and regularization to casual laborers. The program aims to protect workers’ rights by ensuring that they receive benefits and job security, and by preventing their exploitation by employers. Under the scheme, casual laborers are granted temporary status and can become regularized after five years of continuous service. This scheme has helped to bring stability and security to the lives of many casual laborers in India.
Who is Casual Worker?
A Casual Worker is a type of employee who is appointed on a temporary or part-time basis and is compensated with daily wages. They are not considered permanent employees and do not receive the same benefits or job security as full-time staff. However, their flexibility and availability make them a valuable addition to the workforce in various industries, such as hospitality, retail, and agriculture. Casual Workers are usually hired to cover seasonal or temporary staffing needs or to address a sudden increase in demand for services.
Casual workers are engaged by various Ministries/ Departments and their attached and subordinate offices for work of casual or seasonal or intermittent nature. They are engaged according to the requirement of different Ministries /Departments / attached / subordinate offices.
There is no legislation exclusively for regulating engagement of casual workers. However, the Central Government has issued guidelines in the matter of recruitment of casual workers on daily wage basis. Although, no centralized data relating to casual workers is maintained.
The Government had launched a scheme viz Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status and Regularization) Scheme of Government of India, 1993. As per the scheme Temporary status would be conferred on all casual labourers who were in employment and who have rendered a continuous service of at least one year, which means that they must have been engaged for a period of at least 240 days (206 days in case of offices observing 5 days week). Temporary status would entitle the casual labourers to the benefits such as:
- Wages at daily rates with reference to minimum of the pay scale for a corresponding group ‘D’ official including DA, HRA and CCA.
- Benefits of increment at the same rate as applicable to a Group ‘D’ employee would be taken into account for calculating pro-rata wages for every one year of service.
- Leave entitlement will be on a pro-rata basis at the rate of one day for every 10 days of work, casual or any other kind of leave, except maternity leave, will not be admissible.
- Maternity leave to lady casual labourers as admissible to regular Group ‘D’ employees will be allowed.
- 50% of the service rendered under temporary status would be counted for the purpose of retirement benefits after their regularization.
- After rendering three years’ continuous service after conferment of temporary status, the casual labourers would be treated on par with temporary Group ‘D’ employees for the purpose of contribution to the General Provident Fund, and would also further be eligible for the grant of Festive Advance/Flood Advance on the same conditions as are applicable to temporary Group ‘D’ employees.
- Until they are regularized, they would be entitled to Productivity Linked Bonus/ Ad-hoc bonus only at the rates as applicable to casual labourers.
Source: PIB
It is a scheme launched in 1993 by the Government of India to provide temporary status and regularization to casual labourers working in different departments of the government.
The benefit of this scheme is that the casual labourers would be granted temporary status and will be regularized as Group D employees.
No, this scheme is not applicable to casual labourers working in private sectors, it is only for those who work in different departments of the government.