Freer hand likely in hiring contract workers for ancillary businesses

The present law empowers state or central governments to prohibit the hiring of contract labour

The Union government is holding a discussion on Tuesday on a change to the contract labour law, aimed at giving a freer hand in hiring such labour for ancillary businesses and non-core activities.

The proposed law also has provisions to bring information technology (IT) entities which outsource their jobs out of the ambit of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act. The government has proposed amending Section 10 of the Act to distinguish the nature of work performed by an establishment, based on core and non-core activities, irrespective of whether the work is season or through the year. The government has