Speedy Finalization Of Business Rules Of The Sindh HBWs Act 2018

Parliamentarians belonging to Sindh have demanded speedy finalization of the Rules of Business for the Home Based Workers Act which was approved by the Sindh Assembly in May 2018 but since then the Rules of Business for it implementation are being delayed

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Jul, 2019 ) :Parliamentarians belonging to Sindh have demanded speedy finalization of the Rules of Business for the Home Based Workers Act which was approved by the Sindh Assembly in May 2018 but since then the Rules of Business for it implementation are being delayed.

Addressing an orientation session organized by HomeNet Pakistan under the facilitation of UN women Shamim Mumtaz, MPA-PPP said that the HBWs law has been one of the significant achievement of the previous government and PPP is very much cognizant of the fact that HBWs should be the part of the workforce.

Being part of a major workforce, home base workers remain hidden and unrecognized and the law once implemented would give them the right to be a worker ad enjoy the perks as workers, she said.

MPA Shamim Mumtaz expressed her concern on the delay by the administrative department in making and finalization of the rules of businesses and finalizing the registration mechanism.

She said that this is the need of the time that we recognize the contribution of the workers working in their homes and bringing their products to the market.

Rashid Khaliji from MQM said that protection of the workers and labour, belonging to formal and informal sectors, have been neglected at a very high platform of parliament.

He said that all political parties need to take collective decision for the making a cohesive framework for the protection of the workers from the formal and informal sector.

"All parties should come on board for creating awareness on the legislation of HBWs and the registration process," said the parliamentarian.

They two MPAs appreciated the online platform set up by HomeNet Pakistan for direct marketing of the HBWs products.

Pointing out the health and safety issues of the workers in the fishery sector, she said that women in the fishery are being neglected and are facing serious occupational related health issues, they also highlighted the importance of the unionization of the workers in the home base sector.

Ume Laila Azhar, Executive Director HomeNet Pakistan shared the present status of the HBWs Act awaiting its implementation plan.

Mentioning that the labour department has developed the rules of business she said the rules are, however, needed to be finalized by the department taking in account the relevant tripartite stakeholders.

She also highlighted the importance the having a approved plan of action for ensuring the implementation of the Law in true sense She also stressed the need for the establishment of the Provincial council as envisioned in the law.

"Establishment of the fund and allocation of seed money by the government should be taken on priority basis, said the senior activist, Ume Laila emphasizing that registration of the HBWs to be ensured by the labour department and union council was equally pivotal.

Secretary for Sindh Women Development, Aliya Shahid shared Government of Sindh's road map for the protection of the HBWs by enhancing their skills and uplifting their social and economic status.

She said the process of enhancing the home base workers capacity to develop high quality products and utilization of the loans in upgrading their micro businesses and graduating to small level was also among the priorities of the government.

It was also mentioned that with the support of Japan government Sindh government has initiated a project for enhancing the livelihood of Home base workers.

She appreciated the efforts of HomeNet for bringing in innovative technical initiatives for marketing the HBWs products. She highlighted the importance of the capacity building, life skill enhancement, product diversification, financial inclusion for empowering the own account home base workers.

Naheed Syed from HomeNet Pakistan shared the initiatives taken so far for the upliftment of the HBWs in Karachi and Thatta mentioning that 3500 HBWs have been identified in this phase who will be registered with labour department.

Around 600 HBWs were said to have been trained on business development and 300 have received loans and linked with market. More than 100 home base workers have created their own line E shops for direct marketing of the products.

Other MPAs present on the occasion including Nusrat Sahar Abbasi, Adeeba Hasan, Mangla Sharma, Tanzila Habiba along with Rashid Khaliji expressed their concern that there were only eight labour courts in Sindh with concentration of five in Karachi only.

Reservations were also expressed about the budget allocation to labour department, low rate of labour inspectors and absence of women labour inspectors.