Youth employment top priority of our government: Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, Feb 14 (ANI): Laying emphasis on the government's commitment towards creating greater job opportunities Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said that youth employment is a high priority item for his government.

Dr. Singh, who inaugurated the 44th session of the Indian Labour Conference here, said: "We need to provide opportunities for gainful employment to the large number of young people who enter the work force every year. Youth employment is a high-priority agenda item for our government. This can happen only if we equip our young people with skills that are required to meet the demands of our rapidly growing economy.

Highlighting various schemes launched by the government for the welfare and well-being of workers, particularly those in the unorganized sector, Dr. Singh said "Initiatives taken by our government in the social sectors are indeed yielding results."

"There has been a major reduction in the number of child workers in the last few years. The India Human Development Report 2011 reported that the proportion of 6 to 14 year old children who are working has fallen from 6.2 percent in 1994 to 2 percent in the year 2010. The Right to Education Act 2009, which provides for compulsory education up to 14 years, will further contribute towards eliminating the curse of child labour," he added.

The Prime Minister also touched upon issues of migrant labour and female labour force stating and stated that present systems to ensure their welfare and well-being are insufficient and need to be strengthened.

Dr. Singh expressed his government's commitment to strengthen labour laws and ensure their compliance for the welfare of the working class.

"The Factories Act, 1948, which is one of the most important central legislation designed to regulate the working conditions in our factories as well as health, safety and welfare of our workers, is currently in the process of amendment. The need for amending the Factories Act has been felt because of a number of developments since 1987 when the Act was last amended," Dr. Singh said.

"These include concerns arising out of disasters such as the Bhopal gas tragedy, especially those relating to industrial disaster mitigation, rehabilitation and compensation for industrial workers and other affected persons. Amendments to the Act have also been necessitated to facilitate our ratification of several ILO Conventions," he added. (ANI)