Over 27,000 industrial disputes resolved in last 5 yrs:TN govt

Tamil Nadu government today said that over 27,000 industrial disputes had been resolved in the last five years, with 10,000 of them being settled amicably.

"In the past five years, 27,807 industrial disputes were resolved in which 10,268 were settled amicably.

"Due to timely intervention of conciliation authorities, 153 strikes and 32 lock-outs were effectively resolved," Labour Minister Nilofer Kafeel informed the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

Revealing statistics on the child labour status in the state, Kafeel said the number has a shown a steady decline.

"Census 2001 placed the number of child labour in the state at 4.19 lakh, while Census 2011 estimated it at 1.51 lakh," she said.
 

The number has 'steadily' reduced over the years due to 'rigorous enforcement' andrescue and rehabilitation efforts of the government, she said.

In the past five years, 245 child labourers were rescued, with 100 of them being admitted in special schools, she said.

Further, over 100 such students were pursuing engineering degrees, while four of them were studying medicine, she said.

Meanwhile, the House saw a brief debatebetween arch-rivals DMK and AIADMK over industrialisation efforts and labour welfare issues.

DMK's T M Anbarasan, a former Labour Minister raised the issue of closure of handset manufacturer Nokia and its vendor Foxconn at Sriperumbudur here, when Electricity Minister P Thangamani, who handledIndustries portfolio in the previous AIADMK regime, intervened and said they had closed down due to the retrospective tax regime issued by the earlier UPA government at the Centre.

He questioned why DMK, a key constituent of the Congress-led coalition, had not opposed the move.

Industries Minister M C Sampath reiterated that the state government was committed to Foxconn resuming operations and recalled state officials meeting company's representatives in Taiwan recently in this regard.

The state government has already underlined its commitment to resume operations in Nokia and Foxconn plants.

Later, when Anbarasan raised some issues on software investments, IT Minister M Manikandan said that various IT giants had entered the state only during the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMKregime of 2001-06.