Labour Reforms

Five states are yet to pre-publish draft rules under three codes on Industrial Relations, Social Security and Occupational Safety, Parliament was informed on Monday. Four states or Union Territories have also not pre-publish draft rules on Code on Wages, 2019, required to bring labour reforms in the country, showed a written reply by Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shobha Karandlaje in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The minister explained that 'Labour' as a subject is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, and under the Codes, the power to make rules has been entrusted to the central government and state governments. As a step towards the implementation of four Labour Codes, she informed that the central government has pre-published the draft rules. After notifying the Codes, the government has undertaken three tripartite consultations on the draft Central Rules under all four Codes on December 21, 2020, January 12, 2021 and January 20, 2021. As per available information,

Hitting out at the Centre, the Congress on Tuesday alleged that deliberate destruction of MSMEs through "neglectful policy-making, a blundering demonetisation, a botched-up GST rollout, and the unplanned Covid-19 lockdown" is partly responsible for the shift away from labour-intensive growth. Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh cited an article in a newspaper highlighting the paradox of ostensibly higher GDP numbers and their failure to create jobs or increase rural wages (adjusted for the increase in prices). The latest Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) for 2022-2023 indicates that some part of the decline in real wages can be attributed to a decline in labour productivity, Ramesh said. The growth in GVA per worker (a measure of labour productivity) slowed from 6.6 per cent in 2014-15 to 0.6 per cent by 2018-19, the Congress leader said. After Covid-era statistical irregularity, worker productivity contracted again in FY23, he added. The trend away from ...

Decriminalization of labour laws, increasing female workforce participation, social security, labour welfare will drive inclusive growth in the country, a senior government official said on Thursday. Secretary for Ministry of Labour & Employment Sumita Dawra made the remarks at an industry interaction organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Employers' Federation of India (EFI) in Bengaluru. In the session attended by 200 industry members, "Sumita Dawra...highlighted about the Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business reforms introduced by the Ministry of Labour & Employment, GoI. She emphasised on decriminalization of labour laws, increasing female workforce participation, social security, labour welfare that will drive inclusive growth in India," a CII statement said. Dawra also mentioned on employment, an improving trend is evidenced by PLFS (Periodic Labour Force Survey) & KLEMS data, besides EPFO net subscribers have gone up by more than 6 crore since ..

Engagement with states will help

Industry body CII on Thursday made a case for pushing reforms in sectors like land, labour, and agriculture by the Modi 3.0 government to accelerate economic growth, which is estimated to be around 8 per cent in the current financial year. CII President Sanjiv Puri said a lot of policy interventions in the past have put the economy on "a much stronger wicket". "The growth rate is poised to touch 8 per cent during the current year, marking the fourth consecutive year of above 7 per cent + growth. "The growth estimate hinges critically on addressing the unfinished reform agenda on priority, in addition to improvement in world trade prospects aiding our exports, twin engines of investment and consumption doing well and expectations of a normal monsoon among other factors," he added. Expressing optimism regarding the economy's performance, he said, "Very clearly, we are expecting all three sectors of the economy -- agricuture, services and industry -- to fire and do well next year." H

While the four labour codes have already been passed by the Parliament, implementing them could prove tricky for the new coalition government led by prime minister Narendra Modi

Says states are making sure the industry does not have to face different rules while moving from one state to another

Pitching for labour reforms, the chairman of the 16th Finance Commission and former NITI Aayog Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Saturday said that "unemployment," is not a problem for India but "under-employment" is. Speaking at a session 'The Economic Whisper: how to fuel growth with jobs' at the concluding day of the two-day ABP Network's 'Ideas of India Summit 3.0' here, he also sounded optimistic that the jobs problem in the country will be solved over the next 10 years. "Unemployment is really not India's problem in my view. Our problem is underemployment, so productivity is low. So the job that can be done by one person often gets done by two people or maybe three people. And that is where I think, the real challenge of jobs is creating well-paid high-productivity jobs," he said. Stating that in the economy's jargon, India is a labour-abundant and capital-scarce country, he said, "What we have done is to put much of the capital in very selective sectors which are in any case very

Having grown from humble beginnings into a major infrastructure builder, Kerala-based Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS) has plans to extend its footprint in its centenary year, based on the foundational vision of sustainable and inclusive development. Founded by a group of youngsters inspired by the teachings of social reformer and renaissance flag-bearer Vagbhatanandan as a workers' collective at a village near Uralungal in Kozhikode district in 1925, ULCCL is now a mega enterprise with an annual turnover of Rs 3000 crore and a large workforce on muster rolls. As a Total Solution Provider (TSP), ULCCS in recent years forayed into cutting-edge fields as well including Information Technology, skill development and material quality testing, even as consolidating its position in the infrastructure development. With a rich legacy and flourishing portfolio of 7500+ projects, ULCCS is a member of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and earned the internationa

A comprehensive jobs data is the need of the hour in India to help understand what kind of employment opportunities are getting created and which sectors are hiring, and the government should look at developing an equivalent of the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) in the US, Wadhwani Foundation Global President and CEO Ajay Kela told PTI. "India is a young country and the youth population is massive. Every month we have one million people who turn 18 and they need jobs. We must make sure there are jobs available for all such people who need to support themselves and their families," Kela told PTI in an interview on Tuesday. On his expectations from the interim budget, Kela said, "What's missing in India is that there is no solid data in the job space. The US has the BLS, we don't have an equivalent of that. "Any programmes or schemes you develop... in the absence of not understanding what jobs are getting created, which sectors are hiring, what do the next 4-5 years look like in ..

The government will launch the second version of the National Career Service (NCS) portal as well as persuade states to roll out labour reforms as part of efforts to further improve the ease of doing business and provide social security for the unorganised labour, particularly gig and platform workers, in 2024. Union Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav told PTI that his ministry will soon launch the "advanced version, namely NCS 2.0, to facilitate better job matching and search facility for jobseekers along with a recommendation engine for skilling by the use of latest technologies and leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning". The NCS project was launched in July 2015 to provide various employment-related services, including career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship and internships, through a digital platform. As of November 30 this year, the NCS platform had more than 3.64 crore registered jobseekers

The new regulation will do away with the system where unused leaves used to lapse beyond a certain time limit

These requirements include maintenance of records, returns, and filings under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, among others

As the Narendra Modi government enters the final year of its second term, here's a look at some projects that are hanging fire

The US has also proposed possible business-academia tie-ups to increase the availability of skilled workers and consultations with business and worker associations to develop policies

Introducing 12-hour shifts requires reflection

Apple and its supplier Foxconn were among the companies that lobbied for a landmark liberalisation of labour laws in the southern state of Karnataka earlier this month, the Financial Times reported

Expanding the social security coverage for unorganised workers and pursuing states to make rules for labour codes will be the key priorities for the government in 2023, as efforts continue to strengthen the country's labour market. With India set to host G-20 leaders' summit for the first time next year, the Union labour ministry will also pursue key employment-related agenda touching upon global skill gaps, gig and platform economy, sustainable financing of social security schemes and other issues. "Our efforts will be to cover a large number of unorganised sector workers under the ambit of social security schemes in 2023 and provide them with eligible benefits online. We want to make processes paperless in the ministry," Union Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav told PTI. The four labour codes on social security, industrial relations, wages, and Occupational Safety Health & Working Conditions (OSH) have already been cleared by Parliament but they can be implemented ...

Write to labour minister Bhupender Yadav stating that the codes curtail the rights and protective provisions contained in existing statutes, impose more derogatory working conditions on workers

Plans to introduce more tax cuts next year as part of first full Budget