1. Summary of Urban Right to Work
The discussion on urban employment began in Delhi as a consequence of the closure of “non-
conforming” industries in 1999 and acquired a sharper edge with the sealing of “unauthorised”
commercial units in 2005. Both were part of the general anti-poor bias of the Courts which were
also issuing orders in various petitions filed by “eminent” citizens and associations, to regulate or
abolish various occupations such as street vendors and cycle rickshaws, manual labour and self-
employment.
Much of the discussion was taking place in the Sajha Manch, an alliance of organisations active
with the urban poor in the city, which had come into being in 1998 to campaign against the
eviction and demolition of slums and unauthorised colonies and thus raise the issue of a Right to
Shelter Act. But, by 2003, the Sajha Manch had begun to include issues of livelihoods into its
agenda as the attack on the urban poor became more generalised in the city.
In 2005, the Sajha Manch was selected on the recommendation of Bharat Dogra as a partner in
the United Nations Development Programme/Government of India project to design a National
Strategy for Urban Livelihoods. While the Government of Delhi instructed the other 20 NGOs
selected under the project to provide services in six resettlement colonies in Delhi, the Sajha
Manch maintained that the objectives of original project design were not to perform service
delivery but to promote an integrated perspective of self-reliance from “below”.
Subsequently, in the next 18 months, the Sajha Manch organized 6 consultations, held 14
workshops, and conducted 17 research studies amongst the urban workers to understand their
conditions and requirements, and then proposed the following Strategy for Urban Livelihoods:
• The Right to Work has to be recognised and legislated as a Fundamental Right.
• Complementary laws have to be put in place to provide Living Wages and Social Security.
• Secure Shelter near Work is a necessity for the urban poor.
• Government must assist community based Self Help programmes.
• Participatory Research yields Norms for planning livelihoods and shelter.
• Both require the three basic elements of Legal Credit, Space, and Tenure.
• There has to be Accountability and accessible Grievance Redressal Mechanisms.
In the meantime, the debate on the Unorganised Sector Social Security Bill had been taking place
and the Government of India eventually passed the Act in 2007, ignoring the recommendations
made by labour organisations and national Councils and Commissions. Hence, the Sajha Manch
had to analyse the weaknesses of the public consultation process as well as the manner in which
legislation was framed. It was in this light that the Manch also began looking at the experience of
the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgaar Yojana and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
What emerged from this series of consultations and studies was that urban employment was
distinctly different from rural livelihoods. Broadly, there were three categories of work in the
city – those who were in wage employment; those who were self-employed; and those who were
under- or un-employed. Hence, any legislation had to cater to all three categories of workers.
Thus, there was a need to emphasise on the “Right to Work” rather than an employment
guarantee scheme, and to specify the “living wages” that every worker should be entitled to.

2. In addition, the legislation had to be comprehensive enough to address all categories so as to
provide a base for building alliances between different sections of urban workers. Otherwise,
they would be divided into different Boards for different occupations and thereby weaken the
responsibility and accountability of the Labour Department. Further, there had to be provisions
to make More Work available in the city through changing the norms of the development
process. And finally, the legislation had to be democratic in its functioning with greater worker
participation.
Based on these elements, following is the brief of the draft act:
Right to work in urban areas: An Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood and social
security of the households in urban areas of the country by providing guaranteed work
opportunities for the full year at living wages to every household whose adult members register
to do any form of productive work and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
∗ The draft act contain five chapters in which chapter I deal with the definition of the
different words, chapter II is very important because it deals with the right to work in
urban areas, chapter III deals with right to work schemes and unemployment
allowances, chapter IV deals with implementing and monitoring authorities, chapter
V deals with establishment of National and State right to employment funds and audit
and finally chapter VI is miscellaneous.
∗ The important definitions in the chapter I are:
2 (a) "adult" means a person who has completed his eighteen years of age;
(b) "applicant" means the head of a household or any of its other adult members who has
registered for work opportunity under the Scheme;
(g) "living wage", in relation to any area, means a wage amenable to a life with dignity as
negotiated at an annual Labour Conference called by the State Government as applicable
in that area;
(p) "productive work" means any physical or mental work which will directly or
indirectly contribute to the increase of production, the creation of durable assets, the
preservation of the environment, or the improvement of the quality of life that is benefit
to society;
(t) "urban area" means any area in a State covered by any urban local body or a
Cantonment Board established or constituted under any law for the time being in force;
(x) “worker” means an adult person engaged in productive work as own or wage worker.
∗ The important provisions in the Chapter II are:
3 (2) (a) of adequate employment through labour-intensive public works with a maximum
material to wage ratio of 60:40;
(b) of norms that place a cap on the capital investment per work opportunity created in all
public and private projects;
(c) of lifting the ban on recruitment in all public departments;
(d) of placing restrictions on contracting out and privatising work where it affects the
availability of work opportunities;
(e) of legal space for carrying out productive work;
(f) of removing restrictions that prevent the carrying out of productive work;
(g) of adequate number of licenses for those persons engaged in productive work;
(h) of legal identity to the working person;
(i) of appropriate credit on easy terms to both women and men workers and their
associations;

3. (j) of legal access to resources on which the productive work is based;
(k) of vocational training centres where workers can learn new and innovative skills;
(l) of labour assistance centres where instruction is provided in occupational health and
safety;
(m) of stipulating hours and conditions of work in accordance with labour laws;
(n) of enabling workers to form associations to protect their work opportunities;
(o) of ensuring shelter with basic services near or at the place of work;
(p) of pension and insurance schemes that provide social security; and
(q) all other such inputs as may be required to carry on productive work.
(3) Every person who has utilised the work opportunity as provided to him/her under the
Scheme shall be entitled to receive a living wage at the living wage rate for each day of
work.
(4) Where the actual wage received for employed, self-employed, or unemployed persons is
less than the living wage, the Government is to be considered as the Principal Employer and
shall have to reimburse the balance wage as unemployment assistance.
(5) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the disbursement of daily wages to make up the
living wage shall be made on a weekly basis or in any case not later than a fortnight after the
date on which such work was done or the person was unemployed.
(6) The Central Government or the State Government may, within the limits of its economic
capacity and development, make provisions for securing work opportunities for every adult
member of a household under a Scheme for any period beyond the period guaranteed under
sub-section (1), as may be expedient.
∗ The important provisions in the chapter III are:
6. (1) notwithstanding anything contained in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Central
Government may, by notification, specify the wage rate for the purposes of this Act:
Provided that different rates of wages may be specified for different areas
Provided also that such wage rates shall be negotiated with a wide range of representatives
of workers’ organisations at an annual Labour Conference organised by the Ministry of
Labour
Provided further that the living wage rate specified from time to time under any such
notification shall not be at a rate less than two hundred fifty rupees per day
7. (1) If an applicant for registration under the Scheme is not provided such opportunity for
work within fifteen days of receipt of his application seeking work opportunity or from the
date on which the work opportunity has been sought in the case of an advance application,
whichever is later, he/she shall be entitled to a daily unemployment assistance in accordance
with this section.
(2) If the work opportunity provided does not enable the applicant to earn the prescribed
living wage, the State Government shall be liable to pay the a balance wage.
9. An applicant who-
(a) does not accept the work opportunity provided to his/her household under a Scheme;( in
this scheme undignified work should not provided i.e., ban on undignified work)
or
(b) does not report for the work opportunity within fifteen days of being notified by the
Labour Officer or the implementing agency to report for the work opportunity;
or
(c) continuously remains absent from work, without obtaining a permission from the
concerned implementing agency for a period of more than one week or remains absent for a

4. total period of more than one week in any month, shall not be eligible to claim the
unemployment assistance payable under this Act for a period of three months but shall be
eligible to seek work opportunities under the Scheme at any time.
∗ The important provisions in the chapter IV are:
10. (1) With effect from such date as the Central Government may, by notification specify, there
shall be constituted a Council to be called the Central Right to Work Council to discharge
the functions, and perform the duties, assigned to it by or under this Act.
12. (1) For the purposes of regular monitoring and reviewing the implementation of this Act at
the State level, every State Government shall constitute a State Council to be known as the
(name of the State) State Right to Work Council with a Chairperson and such number of
official members as may be determined by the State Government and not more than fifteen
non-official members nominated by the State Government from Urban Local Bodies,
experts from organisations of workers and disadvantaged groups:
Provided that not less than one-third of the non-official members nominated under this
clause shall be women
Provided further that not less than one third of the non-official members shall be
belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Other Backward Classes
and Minorities
∗ The important provisions in the chapter V are:
21. (1) The Central Government shall, by notification, establish a fund to be called the
National Right to Work Fund for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The Central Government may after due appropriation made by Parliament by law in this
behalf, credit by way of grants or loans such sums of money as the Central Government may
consider necessary to the National Fund.
(3) The amount standing to the credit of the National Fund shall be utilised in such manner
and subject to such conditions and limitations as may be prescribed by the Central
Government.
(4) Central government should impose 10% to 15% right to work cess on corporate or
company whose annual income is more than 100 crores.
∗ The important provision in the chapter VI are:
31. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the City Programme
Coordinator, Programme Officer or any other person who is, or who is deemed to be, a
public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code in respect of
anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act or the rules or
Schemes made thereunder:
Provided if such officer has been proved guilty and has been proven to have committed a
discriminatory act against SC/ST/Minorities or women, such officer will have to face a fine
up to Rs 50,000 or imprisonment upto 3 years
35. (1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Central
Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, make such provisions, not
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for
removing the difficulty:
Provided that no order shall be made under this section after the expiry of three years
from the commencement of this Act
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