By Our Correspondent
PURI/BHUBANESWAR:Workers’ welfare is not just an organizational work, but it is a responsible ideological movement which is the foundation of nation building. Union Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said this while attending the 21st All India Triennial Session of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh organized at Puri, the abode of Lord Jagannath, on Saturday.
Describing workers as the main pillar of nation building, Shri Pradhan said that the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh has always been dedicated to the ‘respect of labour’ as per the principles of the Indian Constitution. Since its inception, the organization has played a commendable role in strengthening the rights, dignity and social justice of workers by working with the national interest, workers’ welfare and the concept of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. By giving full life to the workforce, the economy will double. For this, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increased the ‘minimum wage’ for workers after many years. The government is continuously working towards the welfare of 2.5 million mid-day meal workers, Anganwadis and Asha Didi.
Sharing his personal experience, he said, “I was fortunate to work as a Mazdoor Sangh activist in the beginning of my social life. Today, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh has taken the form of a responsible social movement. This organization is paving the way for balanced and integrated development by considering labor not only as a means of livelihood, but also as the cornerstone of nation building. The Union Minister said that there are about 90 crore people in the ‘working age group’ in India, of which about 50 percent are actually working. BMS has done a ‘stone’-like job in providing ideological clarity to these 50 crore workers. In the current era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), only by increasing the participation of our labor force from 50 percent to 75 percent can the country achieve its goal of development.”
Keeping in view the challenges of the coming days, Shri Pradhan has emphasized on continuous ‘skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling’ of the workforce. The new National Education Policy has made provision for ‘studying with employment’. He opined that making the workforce of the 21st century a ‘global standard’, which will always be the welfare of the world, will be the priority.
