Prelims 2021 · Q2
HardWith reference to casual workers employed in India, consider the following statements:
- 1.All casual workers are entitled for Employees Provident Fund coverage.
- 2.All casual workers are entitled for regular working hours and overtime payment.
- 3.The government can by a notification specify that an establishment or industry shall pay wages only through its bank account.
Which of the above statements are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only
Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (b). Statement 2 looks arguable because the Minimum Wages Act's hours and overtime rules (sections 13–14) bound only scheduled employments; but the Code on Wages, 2019, already enacted when this paper was set, applies those rules to every 'employee' and draws no line between casual and regular workers, which is the frame the key uses. Statement 1 fails on the EPF Act's 20-person threshold, so (b). In the exam, read 'entitled' against the law on the statute book, including a Code passed but not yet brought into force.
Provident Fund coverage depends on the size of the establishment, so it cannot reach every casual worker. Working-hour and overtime protections attach to the employee, whatever the nature of the engagement: the Code on Wages, 2019 lets the government fix a normal working day and makes overtime payable to any employee at not less than twice the normal rate. The same Code, like the 2017 amendment to the Payment of Wages Act before it, lets the government notify establishments that must pay wages only by cheque or bank credit.
- ✗ 1. The EPF and MP Act, 1952 applies to factories in listed industries and to notified establishments employing twenty or more persons, so casual workers in smaller units fall outside it.
- ✓ 2. The Code on Wages, 2019 (passed in August 2019) defines 'employee' as any person employed on wages by an establishment, without distinguishing casual from regular workers; section 13 lets the government fix the hours of a normal working day and section 14 requires overtime for hours beyond it at not less than twice the normal rate. The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 gave the same protection in scheduled employments.
- ✓ 3. Section 15 of the Code on Wages, 2019, like the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Act, 2017 before it, lets the appropriate government notify the establishments that must pay wages only by cheque or by crediting the worker's bank account.
- • Since then The Code on Wages, 2019, which absorbs the Payment of Wages Act and the Minimum Wages Act, has been made effective along with three other labour codes from 21 November 2025 (PIB).
Remember · EPF: establishments with 20 or more persons. Code on Wages, 2019: normal working day (s.13), overtime at twice the normal rate (s.14), government may notify bank-only payment of wages (s.15).
Sources
- Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, Section 1(3) (Ministry of Labour and Employment) ↗ “to every establishment which is a factory engaged in any industry specified in Schedule I and in which twenty or more persons are employed”
- Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Section 14 (Labour Department, Government of Telangana) ↗ “works on any day in excess of the number of hours constituting a normal working day, the employer shall pay him for every hour or for part of an hour so worked in excess at the overtime rate”
- PIB, Ministry of Labour and Employment: Payment of Wages by cheque or crediting to bank accounts ↗ “to specify the industrial or other establishment, by notification in the Official Gazette, which shall pay to every person employed in such industrial or other establishment, the wages only by cheque or by crediting in his bank account.”
- PIB: Government Makes the Four Labour Codes effective (21 November 2025) ↗ “the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 are being made effective from 21st November 2025”
- Code on Wages, 2019 (India Code), section 2(k), definition of employee ↗ ““employee” means, any person (other than an apprentice engaged under the Apprentices Act, 1961 (52 of 1961)), employed on wages by an establishment to do any skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled, manual, operational, supervisory, managerial, administrative, technical or clerical work for hire or reward … works on any day in excess of the number of hours constituting a normal working day, the employer shall pay him for every hour or for part of an hour so worked in excess, at the overtime rate which shall not be less than twice the normal rate of wages … the appropriate Government may, by notification, specify the industrial or other establishment, the employer of which shall pay to every person employed in such industrial or other establishment, the wages only by cheque or by crediting the wages in his bank account”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·