Team behind India's labour reforms

In November, the government had quietly set up a 'reforms cell' in the labour ministry, which was mandated to carry out a major revamp of labour laws in the country

During his recent visit to the United States, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed labour one of the key areas where "reforms are absolutely necessary". At the Shram Shakti Bhavan, headquarters of the labour ministry, a team of experts and current and former government officials are busy implementing these reforms.

In November, the government had set up a reforms cell in the ministry, mandated to carry out a major revamp of the laws, often termed complex and archaic by industry. In the eight months since the cell was formed, the government has proposed one of the biggest overhauls in decades and started work on some long-pending demands.

Apart from this cell, a team of senior bureaucrats in the ministry was behind this exercise. The first task the department took up was to look into the recommendations of the second National Commission on Labour, re-constituted in 1999.

The process of rationalisation involved looking into the labour laws in the present scenario and taking into account the technological advancement and transparency aspect," said a senior official. The official added the main focus of this cell was to work on the small factories Bill and rationalisation of laws.

The official noted a dedicated team was required to club 44 labour laws into five codes - wages, industrial relations, social security & welfare, safety & working conditions, and employment training.

Government members of the cell included Piyush Sharma, a ministry consultant and Delhi's former additional labour commissioner, Onkar Sharma, a regional labour commissioner, and D P Singh, deputy labour commissioner. S D Singh, an advocate and Sanjay Upadhyaya, faculty Member at the V V Giri National Labour Institute, were assisting the team on legal and academic aspects.

The ministry formed separate teams for each labour code. For instance, officials from the Employees' Provident Fund and Employees' State Insurance Corporation were involved in the formulation of the code on social security and welfare. "The cell clearly shows the commitment of the ministry towards carrying out labour reforms. We wanted to give it adequate attention and ensure everything is done in a timely manner, along with due consultation with the stakeholders," said the official.

According to a cell member, after every tripartite meeting, the cell held meetings to discuss suggestions of trade unions and industries and incorporate it in the proposed Bills. The ministry has held a series of consultations with trade unions and industry on the Small Factories Bill and labour code on wages and industrial relations.

The ministry will likely introduce the Small Factories Bill, which will exempt units employing up to 40 workers from 14 labour laws, in the monsoon session of Parliament. The session will commence from July 21. Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the Bill would be sent for Cabinet approval before the start of the session.

The labour code on the wages would also be sent for Cabinet's approval by the end of July, a senior labour ministry official said. The code on industrial relations would be taken up for another round of tripartite consultation in July. The ministry has formed a separate sub-committee to discuss the Industrial Relations Bill in detail after strong protests from the trade unions.

"The reforms cell has been successfully able to push these key reforms in a short time, taking into account the legal aspect, the expert view and the stakeholders' comments," said another official.

LAYING A PATH FOR REFORMS

• The government had set up a reforms cell in the labour ministry in November, which was mandated to carry out a major revamp of labour laws in the country
  

 

In the eight months followed by its formation, the government had proposed one of the biggest labour overhauls and started work on the long-pending demands of the industries
 

Apart from this cell, a team of senior bureaucrats in the labour ministry was behind this exercise
 

The official noted a dedicated team was required to club 44 labour laws into five codes - wages, industrial relations, social security & welfare, safety & working conditions, and employment training