Lack Of Political Will Stymies Labour Reforms

The government of Maharashtra has shown remarkable resolve on the issue of amending labour reforms. A full three months before finance minister Yashwant Sinha announced (in his Budget speech) that the Central government was going to amend the Industrial Disputes (ID) Act, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress (I) alliance in power in Maharashtra had already committed itself to introducing a bouquet of labour reforms, including amending the ID Act.

Maharashtra proposed that instead of the current 100, an employer could close down a concern with up to 300 employees without the mandatory permission of the government.

It is a sign of the times that Yashwant Sinha raised this number to 1,000.

However, the reform was never implemented. Guess why ? Because the BJP-Shiv Sena dominated Opposition threatened to launch an agitation against the state government for its