Women not getting equal pay for equal work: CPI(M) in RS

New Delhi: The CPI(M) in Rajya Sabha today alleged rampant violation of the Equal Remuneration Act and said the law to ensure equal remuneration to women as that of men in workplaces was being further diluted.

Alleging that there was rampant violation of the Act as women were being paid lesser salary than men in most places, Tapan Kumar Sen (CPI-M) said "on Women's day, the entire House pledged to empower women and bring justice. 

"The Equal Remuneration Act is being silently violated in the name of Ease of Doing Business," he said during Zero Hour. Women workers in construction sector, bidi industry and plantations were being given much less salary for the same work done by their male counterparts, Sen said.

"Unfortunately, Equal Remuneration Act is diluted further. Only sound bytes cannot bring justice to women. One crore skilled workers of anganwadi, mid-day meal and Asha are being deprived of statutory wages and social security," the CPI(M) member said.

Raising another issue, Digvijay Singh (Congress) expressed concern over non-disbursal of scholarships to backward students pursuing pre- and post matriculation due to the crashing of a national portal.

"There is a provision of pre and post metric and merit scholarships for SC, ST and OBCs students in the central budget. The government has decided to come up with a national portal through which scholarships will be disbursed to these students. But the national portal has crashed. Today, these students are not getting scholarships," Singh said.

He said there should be no delay in disbursing scholarships to the students.

To this, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Muktar Abbas Naqvi said "With all responsibility, alertness and commitment, our government is doing it. If such an incident has happened, we will definitely look into it and approach the concerned minister."

Asked whether representation had been given to members belonging to SC and ST sections in the panel drafting the New Educational Policy (NEP), HRD minister Smriti Irani said the members of this committee were chosen because of their administrative experience and emphasised that consultations with all sections have been held for the purpose.