Replacement of industrial relations law sought

Emphasising the need for ushering in labour sector reforms in the country, Union minister of state for human resource development, D Purandeswari, called for replacement of the existing industrial relations law with a "simplified, rationalised, comprehensive and goal-oriented industrial relations code".

"In India, the whole gamut of industrial relations law needs to be revisited so that we may acquire a higher growth rate and be able to compete in the international market without any difficulty," she said at the Confederation of Indian Industry Andhra Pradesh HR conclave held here on Friday.

The minister said legislations like Trade Union Act, 1926, Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, Payment of Wages Act, 1936, and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, had been enacted before India attained independence. "Therefore, necessarily, they have to be replaced."

Referring to the prediction that 21st Century would belong to China and India, Purandeswari pointed out China had already taken adequate steps to address the problems of labour capital relationship, which was why it was growing by leaps and bounds.

"To what extent India can do it will depend on how much we are able to respond to the demands of the emerging situation," she said.

Besides the labour sector reforms, the minister said education of people was the key that would lay the foundation for sustained development.

In this context, she said the government was thinking about increasing the expenditure on education to 6 per cent of the GDP from the current level of about 3 per cent.