Revision summary
The stored question asks for laws on a healthy, safe and equitable workplace for women, not for Rashika’s options. The POSH Act, 2013 creates duties against sexual harassment and a complaints structure. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended in 2017, gives paid leave, protection and crèche-related duties. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 and the Code on Wages, 2019 require equal pay for the same or similar work. The Factories Act, 1948 regulates safety, hours and crèches in factories. The Code on Social Security, 2020 consolidates maternity and related health security.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
The stored demand is a direct request for statutes, not a continuation of Rashika’s Sunday. Four Union laws, with a fifth that now occupies the same field, set health, safety and equality at work for women.
Body
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
- This Act, commonly called the POSH Act, makes sexual harassment at the workplace a legal wrong and a duty of the employer to prevent.
- Every workplace with the prescribed number of workers must have an Internal Complaints Committee; others use a Local Committee under the district officer.
- The Act covers employees, visitors and some unorganised workplaces, and it requires awareness, a published policy, and time-bound inquiry.
- Safety here is dignity: a workplace that treats a woman’s body or speech as a joke is not a safe workplace.
Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended by the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017
- The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 gives paid maternity leave, nursing breaks, and protection from dismissal for pregnancy in covered establishments.
- The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 increased paid leave to twenty-six weeks for eligible women and provided for work-from-home where the nature of work allows, besides crèche duties for larger establishments.
- Health and equality meet here: a woman should not have to choose between a job and a medically unsafe early return.
Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 and the Code on Wages, 2019
- The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 required equal pay for the same or similar work and barred sex-based discrimination in recruitment for that work.
- The Code on Wages, 2019 consolidates that equal-remuneration duty with other wage laws, so the same principle now sits in the new wage code as it is brought into force.
- Equitable work is not only a chair in the office; it is the same wage for the same work.
Factories Act, 1948
- The Factories Act, 1948 regulates hours, rest, overtime, hazardous processes, and welfare in factories.
- For women it has included restrictions meant as safety in night work and hazardous rooms, and it requires crèches where a prescribed number of women are employed.
- A healthy factory is ventilation, sanitation, machines with guards, and a crèche that is a room, not a line in a register.
- Some night-work limits have been debated and eased in later State rules and in the occupational-safety code; the 1948 Act remains the classic statute named in this field.
Code on Social Security, 2020
- The Code on Social Security, 2020 gathers maternity benefit, provident fund, employees’ state insurance and related social security, including for some unorganised and gig categories as notified.
- It is the present consolidation through which maternity and health-linked security are meant to travel as the code is implemented.
- A safe and equitable workplace for women includes income during childbirth and medical cover, not only a complaint committee.
How the four-plus-one work together
- POSH addresses violence and humiliation.
- Maternity law addresses biological and employment continuity.
- Equal remuneration and the wage code address pay equity.
- The Factories Act, 1948 addresses physical safety, hours and crèches in industry.
- The Code on Social Security, 2020 is the newer umbrella for maternity and health security.
- Together they are the Government’s main enacted frame for a healthy, safe and equitable working environment for women. Implementation and informal work remain the weak edge.
Flow diagram
Conclusion
- At least four laws do this work: the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013; the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 as amended in 2017; the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 together with the Code on Wages, 2019; and the Factories Act, 1948. The Code on Social Security, 2020 now sits with them on maternity and health cover.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Case study. Vinod is an honest and sincere IAS officer. Recently, he has taken over as Managing Director of the State Road Transport Corporation, his sixth transfer in the past three years. His peers acknowledge his vast knowledge, affability and uprightness. The Chairman of the State Road Transport Corporation is a powerful politician and is very close to the Chief Minister. Vinod comes to know about many alleged irregularities of the Corporation and the high-handedness of the Chairman in financial matters. A Board Member of the Corporation belonging to the Opposition Party meets Vinod and hands over a few documents along with a video recording in which the Chairman appears to be demanding bribe for placing a huge order for the supply of QMR tyres. Vinod recollects the Chairman expediting clearing of pending bills of QMR tyres. Vinod confronts the Board Member as to why he is shying away from exposing the Chairman with the so-called solid proof he has with him. The member informs him that the Chairman refuses to yield to his threats. He adds that Vinod may earn recognition and public support if he himself exposes the Chairman. Further, he tells Vinod that once his party comes to power, Vinod's professional growth would be assured. Vinod is aware that he may be penalized if he exposes the Chairman and further be transferred to a distant place. He knows that the Opposition. Party stands a better chance of coming to power in the forthcoming elections. However, he also realizes that the Board Member is trying to use him for his own political gains.
Next question on this syllabus topic (2023 · Q11). View answer →
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Was this question only a sub-part of the Rashika case?
In some papers it sat near that case. The stored bank demand is the four laws; the answer follows that demand.
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Does naming a code mean every worker already enjoys it?
No. Codes apply as notified, and informal workers are still weakly covered. The question asked what was enacted, not what is perfectly delivered.
Same topic · past papers
UPSC has asked this before
These previous-year questions sit on the same topic. Open one to practise the earlier ask.
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2020 · Q12 · GS IV · 20 marks
Case study. Migrant workers have always remained at the socio-economic margins of our society, silently serving as the instrumental labour force of urban economics. The pandemic has brought them into national focus. On announcement of a countrywide lockdown, a very large number of migrant workers decided to move back from their places of employment to their native villages. The non-availability of transport created its own problems. Added to this was the fear of starvation and inconvenience to their families. This caused the migrant workers to demand wages and transport facilities for returning to their villages. Their mental agony was accentuated by multiple factors such as a sudden loss of livelihood, possibility of lack of food and inability to assist in harvesting their rabi crop due to not being able to reach home in time. Reports of inadequate response of some districts in providing the essential boarding and lodging arrangements along the way multiplied their fears. You have learnt many lessons from this situation when you were tasked to oversee the functioning of the District Disaster Relief Force in your district. In your opinion what ethical issues arose in the current migrant crisis? What do you understand by an ethical care giving state? What assistance can the civil society render to mitigate the sufferings of migrants in similar situations? -
2019 · Q9 · GS IV · 20 marks
Case study. In one of the districts of a frontier state, narcotics menace has been rampant. This has resulted in money laundering, mushrooming of poppy farming, arms smuggling, and near stalling of education. The system is on the verge of collapse. The situation has been further worsened by unconfirmed reports that local politicians as well as some senior police officers are providing surreptitious patronage to the drug mafia. At that point of time a woman police officer, known for her skills in handling such situations is appointed as superintendent of police to bring the situation to normalcy. If you are the same police officer, identify the various dimensions of the crisis. Based on your understanding, suggest measures to deal with the crisis.
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