Maruti's recurring labour troubles call for a reassessment of labour empowerment as we know it today. As core heavy industries were being set up in the sixties, labour was abundant and grew with industry. Skills were honed progressively at the shop floor. Given the increasing constraints of competition, rising labour costs and rapid technology changes, the concept of contract labour was introduced, particularly in assembly line applications. With an increase in the number of contract labourers, skill, now, may no longer be polished on the shop floor, leading to an eventual skill gap. This could be stemmed by large-scale redesigning of technical institutes and keeping pace with new and emerging skill demands. Such planned and lateral empowerment of our labour force will benefit the industry and workers.
R Narayanan, Ghaziabad
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