New Delhi, July 10: The Union Cabinet today included the private sector in the ambit of the Prime Minister`s ‘Shram Awards’, raised the number of prizes from 17 to 33 and introduced a new segment called `Shram Virangana` to encourage women workers.
Announcing to the decision private sector units having more than 500 employees could now participate in the process and nominate the best workers for the awards, parliamentary affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters here.
The awards, which this year would be announced on the eve of the Independence Day, so far went only to workers from public sector units(PSUs) and had four categories of Shram Ratna (one award), Shram Bhushan (two), Shram Vir (six) and Shram Shri/Shram Devi.

At the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it was decided to introduce Shram Virangana award at the same level as Shram Vir.

Following suggestions to include the private sector also, meetings were held between representatives of the Prime Minister`s Office as also with employers` organisations. A committee, under the chairmanship of director general, factory advice service, with representatives of employers and trade unions was formed to finalise the selection criteria.

The initial shortlisting would be done by a technical committee headed by an eminent person, which would be set up by the labour ministry and have representatives of workers, employers and experts from scientific and technical fields.
The inclusion of private sector in the ambit of the award would provide equal opportunity to the workers in private sector vis-a-vis their counterparts in the PSUs.

Bureau Report