Gujarat govt brings ordinance to extend factory working hours, allow women on night shifts
The Factories (Gujarat Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, issued on July 1 by the Labour, Skill Development and Employment department, comes into effect while the state Assembly is not in session. It seeks to provide 'relaxation to the factories to boost economic activities, attract investment in national importance to new projects and generate employment.'
The ordinance amends Section 54 of the Act to allow the state government to notify an increase in daily working hours up to 12 hours, including rest intervals, subject to a maximum of 48 hours in any week. It clarifies that increased hours is contingent on the written consent of the worker.
The revised Section 54 also allows the state to extend, through notification, the number of continuous working hours without interval from five to six.
Workers will receive overtime wages at twice the ordinary rate. Additionally, the ordinance raises the quarterly cap on overtime hours from the existing 75 to 125, again subject to the worker's written consent.
Another key amendment permits employment of women in night shifts—from 7 pm to 6 am—subject to 16 specified conditions. These include mandatory preventive measures against sexual harassment, provision of proper lighting and CCTV coverage in and around the workplace, minimum batch size of 10 women workers per shift, deployment of female security personnel, and provision of safe transportation.
The ordinance clarifies that no woman worker shall be compelled to work night shifts and that written consent will be required from those willing to opt for such duty.work night shifts
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Outsourced workers slam Centre, Punjab govt for privatisation; stage sit-in outside PSPCL Patiala
Outsourced workers staged a sit-in protest opposite the head office gate of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) in Patiala on Thursday. The protesters from Technical Services Union (Regd.) and the Coordination Committee of Powercom and Transco raised slogans and also held a march through the city streets. The protest was organised under the joint leadership of union leaders Krishan Singh Aulakh, Balihar Singh Kataria, Gurvinder Singh Pannu, Jagrup Singh and Balwinder Singh Saini. The union members were accompanied by their family members. Many farmer unions and labour unions too supported them. Notably, the power corporation has over 5,500 outsourced contractual staff who are on strike since July 1. Addressing the gathering, Kataria said 'under the imperialist-guided economic and industrial policies, the central and Punjab governments are implementing so-called economic reforms that in reality expand corporate loot through privatisation. All ruling parties are united in enforcing this anti-people privatisation agenda. In line with these imperialist policies, the Punjab government, by enforcing the Electricity Act 2003 and 2022, has accelerated the privatisation of the electricity corporation decades ago. They have withdrawn the Minimum Wages Act and imposed Deputy commissioner (DC) rates instead, and have replaced permanent recruitment with outsourced contractual hiring'. Sources revealed that to manage complaints, the PSPCL management, as part of their strategy, has recently issued orders at the division level to form special outsourced units to ensure uninterrupted supply of workforce during protests and strikes. The protesting workers rued that instead of making new permanent recruitments to address manpower shortages, more outsourced units are being made. 'This is not about providing uninterrupted electricity supply to consumers — it is a conspiracy to weaken the struggle against privatisation. It is a clear attempt to pit consumers and employees against each other to divide them,' Aulakh said. Kataria urged the electricity employees, farmers and labour unions to stand united at a time when their 'existence and livelihoods are at stake due to this disastrous privatisation drive'. Only through a common struggle can we save the electricity department and our jobs,' Kataria added. The union leaders also highlighted that the Punjab government has passed a resolution to implement changes in labour laws. Notably, any industry or factory employing fewer than 20 workers will now be exempt from the Factories Act. This decision empowers corporates to exploit workers more harshly, which the leaders strongly condemned. Agricultural labour leader Harbhagwan Moonak also condemned the attack on workers' rights, the protesters said. They further demanded that the work orders for outsourced contract workers — which expired on 30 June 2025 — should be renewed immediately, as workers are being harassed with uncertainty. Apart from the main unions, the protest was also addressed by Jaswinder Singh Longowal of the Bharti Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan, Harmesh Malri of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, Hakim Singh Dhanetha of the Water Supply Sanitation Contract Workers Union, pensioners' leader Rajinder Kumar, Sher Singh Khanna of the Contract Morcha, and family members of workers Paramjit Kaur and Kamaljit Kaur. In their addresses, the union leaders called upon the protesters to fully prepare for the nationwide strike against privatisation on July 9.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
One time tax sys for vehicles on hire okayed
Lucknow: The state cabinet on Thursday approved the Uttar Pradesh Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Act, 2025, to make necessary amendments in Sections 4 and 9 of the UP Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1997. This is aimed at increasing revenue and changing the tax structure of the transport department. The amendment proposes a one-time tax system by abolishing the system of monthly, quarterly, or annual taxation on two-wheelers, three-wheeler motor cabs, four-wheeler motor cabs, and maxi cabs operated on hire or reward in transport vehicles. It also applies to goods vehicles with a weight of up to 7500 kg, construction equipment vehicles, and specially manufactured vehicles. After the cabinet's approval, necessary action will be taken in a timely manner to make the required amendments in the sections in question of the UP Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1997.
India Gazette
3 hours ago
- India Gazette
"Worst attack on Constitution": INDIA bloc delegation meets
New Delhi [India], July 3 (ANI): A delegation of INDIA bloc leaders from 11 political parties met with the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the national capital on Wednesday to register their opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls currently underway in Bihar, calling it the 'worst attack on the basic structure of the Constitution.' Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, part of the delegation that met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, questioned the timing of the SIR exercise, noting that it is being carried out only months before the upcoming Assembly elections. 'Firstly, the last revision was in 2003. For 22 years, more than four of five Bihar elections have happened. Were all those elections faulty?... Secondly the Special Intensive Revision which was held in 2003, was held one year before the Lok Sabha Elections, two years before the Assembly election. Today you are having in July, a maximum period of one or two months for an electoral revision exercise of the second most largest electoral populated state in India, want to have it in one and a half to two months,' the Congress leader told reporters after the meeting. Representatives of the Communist Party of India, CPI (Marxist-Leninist), Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and other parties were present. Singhvi warned that such a rushed revision process could distort the electoral rolls and called it a direct threat to constitutional democracy. 'This enfranchisement is the worst attack on the basic structure of the Constitution. Today, every word counts, even if you wrongfully delete or wrongfully add a single voter, it is creating a non-level playing field that affects democracy and elections. This violates the basic structure of the Constitution,' Singhvi added. The ECI has claimed that the SIR is only meant to verify voters and to identify any 'ineligible voters' ahead of the Assembly elections which are expected to be held later this year in Bihar. However, multiple political parties part of the Opposition, including Congress and Bihar's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has raised objected to the exercise, claiming that it will be used to deny people their constitutional rights. Singhvi also raised objections to how the meeting was conducted, stating that new restrictions on who could attend were introduced without precedent. 'For the first time we were told rules for going inside. This is the first time we were told that only the heads or chairpersons of parties can go in. This is not possible or practical, this has not happened before. I have been part of multiple delegations before. This restriction being put in makes sure that a conversation which is expected to happen in a democracy between political parties' representatives and the Election Commission does not happen,' he said. He added that senior Congress leaders Pawan Khera, Jairam Ramesh, and Akhilesh Pratap Singh were among those made to wait outside during the meeting. Meanwhile, RJD MP Manoj Jha, who was also part of the delegation, called the SIR a 'conspiracy' to remove the people of Bihar, and said that most people might not have the required documentation to keep one's name in the electoral rolls. 'We all have kept the worry of Bihar in front of them...I have handed over to them the letter of the RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. This is a conspiracy to evict the purpose of any exercise is exclusion instead of inclusion, then what can we had no answer when we asked that the exercise (Special Intensive Revision), which had not been done in 22 years, why is being done now?... The documents that are important for proving eligibility, most people don't have them,' Jha said during the press conference. Communist Party of India's (CPI) General Secretary D Raja also said that the poll panel should consider the possibility of heavy rains, floods and other natural calamities during the season making the verification exercise challenging. 'We went there to discuss the problems involved in holding Bihar elections because there is an exercise which has been initiated, started by the Election Commission, that is Special Intensive Revision. We asked the Election Commission to postpone that SIR because Bihar will face floods, heavy rains and natural calamities that should be taken into consideration,' Raja told ANI. He mentioned that there was a demand to postpone the SIR and conduct the assembly elections based on the 2024 Lok Sabha electoral rolls. NCP (SCP) leader and Member of Parliament Fouzia Khan said that the poll panel is dismissing the concerns of the migrants of Bihar. 'Election Commission is not willing to consider the concerns of Bihar's migrants, they do not live in ordinary houses. We feel that in the name of strengthening democracy whether the death of it does not happen, that is the question. If crores of people can be denied voting then where does the democracy stand?' the NCP (SCP) leader told ANI. In a post on X following the meeting, the Election Commission stated that all concerns raised by party representatives were addressed, and the SIR was being conducted in accordance with legal provisions. 'Commission stated that SIR is being conducted in accordance with provisions of Article 326,RP Act 1950 & instructions issued on 24.06.2025 Party representatives raised concerns related to SIR. Each concern which was raised by any member of PP was fully addressed by Commission,' the EC's post read. The Bihar Legislative Assembly elections are expected to be held later this year, however no official date has been announced by the ECI as of yet. (ANI)
