EPF account interest for FY 2017-18 still not credited: Here’s what we know so far
For some of the members of The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), there seems to be a delay in the credit of interest in their Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF) accounts. Employees who were waiting for the EPFO to credit their EPF account with interest for the financial year 2017-18 have till date not been able to view it in their PF statement. As per The Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 rules, “Interest shall be credited to the member’s account on monthly running balances basis with effect from the last day in each year”. Going by this, the interest for the FY should get credited by March 31 of each year. This time, there appears to be a longer than usual delay in this process and has become a topic of discussion on social media platforms. ET Online has written emails to the EPFO head office seeking reasons for the delay and a probable timeline by which the interest would get credited. However, we are yet to get a reply. Meanwhile, there are few responses available on social media where some employees had raised similar queries with regional offices of the EPFO and had purportedly received replies from them. In one instance, the reply has been – “It is to inform that the compilation of annual accounts is being under process, however, as per manual accounting system of this office, it will be compiled on or before 30.09.2018.”

‘Labourers representatives to submit demands in writing’
Following repetitive incidents of violence involving embroidery labourers during past few Sundays, city police commissioner Satish Sharma held a meeting with embroidery unit owners and labour representatives on Tuesday. It was decided in the meeting that the labour representatives will submit a written application to the owners association first and later the demands will be discussed. At the meeting, representatives of Akhil Gujarat Embroidery Owners Association (AGEOA), various labour associations, officers of labour department and police officials remained present at the city police commissioner office. However, no final solution to the demands of leave on Sunday and salary related issues were resolved. “Police have called the representatives of both sides and concerned government departments to understand exactly what the issue is. It is a labour and industry related issue which has become a law and order issue,” city police commissioner Satish Sharma said. “I had discussed the issue with the district collector after which I called the representatives to find a solution to the issue since it is going on since last few weeks,” Sharma added. Sharma warned the labour representatives not to take law in their hands otherwise police will deal strictly with all those involved in violence.

Hotter weather threatens productivity of Indian workers, says study; temperature rise also increases absenteeism
For every 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature above 27 degree Celsius on a hot day in India, productivity of workers declines by as much as 4 percent, according to a new study.  Annual average temperature in India has increased 2 degree Celsius over 200 years to 2006, and is predicted to rise further by 1.5-2.0 degree Celsius by 2030. Simply put, this means if a worker is packing 100 boxes of shoes in a day at 27 degree Celsius, he/she will pack only 96 boxes on a day when temperature is 28 degree Celsius. Small industries such as cloth-weaving units, which cannot afford air-conditioning, are most vulnerable to production losses due to rise in temperature, as per the 30 August, 2018, study prepared by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), a think-tank. Workers of “hotter regions” such as Delhi and Gujarat – together contributing about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (on prices of 2014-15) – are likely to see a 4 percent decline in the productivity on a hot day against a 2 percent decline in the efficiency of the workers in “milder climate” of South and Central India, according to the study. Researchers looked at both labour-intensive and highly automated manufacturing processes. In the first category, they found that the productivity of workers engaged in cloth weaving or garment manufacturing dropped by as much as 4 percent per degree as temperatures rose above 27 degree Celsius, as per the study