Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) described the passing away of Arun Jaitley as “personal loss”. Talking to Organiser, BMS north zone organising secretary Shri Pawan Kumar said: “During the last several years Jaitley being the Finance Minister and also Chairman of Group of Ministers the labour sector has witnessed many labour-friendly changes. The sixth pay commission was given to the employees after three years. But they paid the seventh pay commission after six months only. The base limit of the Bonus Act was more than doubled. It was his wisdom that when the proposal to increase it from Rs 3500 to Rs 7000 was placed he added a word ‘minimum wage whichever is higher’ with that. Now there is no need to change the base limit every time. It automatically increases as the minimum wage increases. This government also increased the honourarium of Asha, Anganwadi and other scheme workers. After a long gap, the minimum wage was increased 42 per cent. One of the basic points in proper implementation of the labour laws is that the worker should get full wage. It was on his intervention that the rule was made that every worker will be paid their wages through the bank. In 2014, we had passed a resolution in Jaipur for social security for all. That work was also done under the leadership of Arun Jaitley in the form of pension to all employees from 18 to 40 years after making some nominal contribution from Rs 55 to Rs 200 every month. After completing 60 years of age, the employee will get minimum pension of Rs 3000 per month. It was not an easy task. But he did it successfully. The issue of one more pension option to the employees of GIC and LIC was pending for the last 20 years. It was resolved by Arunji benefiting over 42,000 employees. By and large, many good initiatives were taken during his tenure. In his demise, we have lost a friend.”