What do labour law violations at Foxconn say about Make in India?

Last week, the Union Minister of State for Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the government would love to see the world’s largest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company invest in India, among other firms. His statement came amid the government’s efforts to attract semiconductor companies with a $10 billion incentive scheme launched last month. 
 
As India tries to woo one Taiwanese giant, another has been embroiled in a labour issue at its factory near Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
 
Protests started at Foxconn’s factory after more than 250 women workers, who live at one of the company’s hostels, had to be treated for food poisoning. The factory employs 17,000 workers and makes iPhones for Apple. The Taiwanese company is the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer.
 
The factory has been shut down since December 18. Some of the women told a news outlet that workers slept on the floor in rooms that housed between 6 to 30 women. The toilets reportedly had no running water and food sometimes had worms on them.
Food safety officials closed the hostel’s kitchen after finding rats and poor drainage. 
 
Apple and Foxconn accepted that some dormitories and dining rooms at the factory did not meet required standards.
 
In fact, Foxconn attracted global media attention after 14 workers committed suicide at its factories in China in 2010 over low pay and stressful work conditions. 
 
For Apple, this is the second incident involving a supplier in India in a year. In December 2020, thousands of contract workers at a factory owned by Wistron destroyed equipment and vehicles over alleged non-payment of wages.

There's also another hurdle that India faces as it strives to become a manufacturing hub.
 
Apple’s suppliers are not the only offenders. Recent examples include a BBC report in November 2020 that revealed how Indian workers in factories supplying UK’s top supermarket chains were being subjected to exploitative conditions.
 
The US-based Workers Rights Consortium found that more than four lakh workers in Karnataka have not been paid the state’s legal minimum wage since April 2020. 
 
Foxconn plans to expand the factory, which has become central to Apple’s efforts to shift production away from China.
 
The worker unrest comes as India is trying to encourage global companies to shift some of their supply chains to India, to take advantage of the trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. But it has exposed the working and living conditions of workers at our factories, as well as their vulnerability.  The government should impress on companies like Apple on how they should treat Indian labour.
 
Advancement in India’s manufacturing prowess should not come at the cost of its workers. India should set a better example than settling for apologies from manufacturers like Foxconn. 

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