The Indian Government has compiled existing labour laws – 29 of them – into four distinct codes – dealing with wages, social security, occupational safety and health, and lastly industrial relations.
The government claims – in its presentation on these laws – that these have not only simplified access, but have brought about great benefits to the workers of this country. These claims are tall and show a language of justice-driven welfare for workers combined with providing greater ease of doing business to the companies. The good old social contract story of the greatest good!
Or are these laws a new and unprecedented attack upon the working class, as the Left’s response argues? Are the workers being deprived of laws and rights which protected their interests, or potentially could protect their interests?
Through these labour laws, one can see an attempt at a greater role by the central government in the matter of labour-capital relations. There are certainly some changes, but these don’t reflect any radical shift. In stead, they codify some of the existing practices of labour-capital relations, practices which were completely out of sync with older laws. The government has tried to make laws more flexible to legally sanctify these practices to some extent, which, however, shows only limited overhauls.
Here is a detailed account of these. This is a translation of a critical article which has been originally written in Hindi.
काम से छुट्टी 