A note from the cabinet secretariat is believed to have forced labour minister Sharad Yadav to agree to an amendment in the Industrial Disputes Act in accordance with the recommendations of the group of ministers (GOM). The note, sent by an additional secretary in the cabinet secreteriat, virtually outlined the amendment in clear terms in order to pre-empt the possibility of any alterations by the labour ministry. Highly placed sources say that the note gave specific direction to the ministry to bring the proposal before the cabinet strictly on the basis of the recommendations of the GoM.
After his return from hectic election campaigning in UP, Sharad Yadav was left with no option but to prepare the proposal along the dictated lines.
Sources close to him say that till this morning, Yadav was keen on taking the middle path and moderating some provisions of the amendment.
The cabinet's approval to the amendment was not smooth sailing either. Once again, Yadav is believed to have articulated his skepticism on the fate of the amendment and pointed out that given the political scenario, the effort to push through the amendment would come to a nought if the Congress was not taken into confidence. Some BJP ministers agreed with him. A point came in the cabinet meeting when the governmnet almost decided to defer a decision on the issue.
However, sources in the government say that eventually, the consensus in the cabinet was that whatever the fate of the amendment in the Rajya Sabha (where the Congress has a majority), the government should place on record, its views on economic (and labour) reform.
Time and again, the Congress has made it clear that the party will oppose amendments in the ID Act if the government deviates from the Maharashtra model which enables an employer to shut down an unviable unit having a staff strength of 300 without seeking mandatory permission from the government.
At the cabinet meeting, Yadav also reportedly referred to the opposition to the amendment from the RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) to drive home the point that the amendment would create a hostile political climate against the NDA alliance in the country. 90 per cent of industrial units in the country employ less than 1000 people and will now be free to retrench them without government permission, if they can pay them the enhanced compensation.
Highly placed sources say that cabinet brushed aside all these objections. "The fact that the amendment in the ID act was sought by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat has affectively neutralised this kind of skepticism" a senior official said, adding that Chandrababu Naidu and S M Krishna had been lobbying with the Centre to make export promotion zones and special economic zones public utilities to check trade unionism.
