The present times are tough and
challenging us to our core. The situation is pretty much intense and dark, as
such the entire mankind is waiting for that one single ray of light which will
mark the end of this corona virus. For a growing and over populated economy
like India, the mass wage earners like labourers and farmers are on negligible
family income, trying to make the ends meet.
The country is being driven in a
democratic mode with a principle i.e., ‘of the people, for the people, by
the people….’. Hence the laws are framed which are basically pro poor and
driving the upliftment of the poor. However, the governments (State Level as
well as the Central Govt) might have failed in eradicating the poverty or have
also failed in implementing the laws and might also have misused our laws by
bending/ breaking them in favour of their near & dear ones. The laws are
very clear and are undoubtedly in favour of the underprivileged so that they
also enjoy the freedoms enshrined under the Constitution of India. The laws
also ensure that the mighty ones do not deprive the poor/ underprivileged of
their legal dues and earnings/ benefits which are provided to the people by our
laws.
There are approximately 40 different
central labour laws enacted by the Parliament of India and most of these are
applicable in most of the states.
LIST OF CENTRAL LABOUR LAWS UNDER MINISTRY
OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
1. The Minimum Wages Act, 1948
2. The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
3. The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965
4. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
5. The Trade Unions Act, 1926
6. The Industrial Employment (Standing
Orders) Act, 1946.
7. The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
8. The Weekly Holidays Act, 1942
9. The Factories Act, 1948
10. The Plantation Labour Act, 1951
11. The Mines Act, 1952
12. The Building and Other Constructions
Workers’ (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996
13. The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961
14. The Beedi and Cigar Workers
(Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966
15. The Contract Labour (Regulation and
Abolition) Act, 1970.
16. The Bonded Labour System (Abolition)
Act, 1976
17. The Sales Promotion Employees
(Conditions of Service) Act, 1976
18. The Inter-State Migrant Workmen
(Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979.
19. The Cine Workers and Cinema Theatre
Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1981
20. The Dock Workers (Safety, Health and
Welfare) Act, 1986
21. The Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, 1986
22. The Working Journalists and Other Newspapers
Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955
23. The Working Journalists (Fixation of
rates of Wages) Act, 1958
24. The Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923
25. The Employees’ Provident Funds and
Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
26. The Employees’ State Insurance Act,
1948
27. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961
28. The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972
29. The Unorganized Workers’ Social
Security Act, 2008
30. The Building and Other Construction
Workers Cess Act, 1996
31. The Mica Mines Labour Welfare Fund
Act, 1946
32. The Cine Workers Welfare (Cess) Act,
1981
33. The Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act,
1981
34. The Limestone and Dolomite Mines
Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1972
35. The Iron Ore Mines, Manganese Ore
Mines and Chrome Ore Mines Labour Welfare (Cess) Act, 1976
36. The Iron Ore Mines, Manganese Ore
Mines and Chrome Ore Mines Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1976 37. The Beedi Workers
Welfare Cess Act, 1976
38. The Beedi Workers Welfare Fund Act,
1976
39. The Labour Laws (Exemption from
Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Act,
1988
40. The Employment Exchange (Compulsory
Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959,
In addition to the aforementioned
central acts there are state laws to regulate some aspects such as working
conditions at the place of work. Each state in India may have special labour regulations in certain
circumstances. The regulations may vastly differ from state to state. The forms
and procedures might be different in each state.
Some instances of state wise laws are:-
Gujarat:-In 2004 the State of Gujarat amended
the Industrial Disputes Act to allow greater labour market flexibility in the Special Export Zones (SEZs) of Gujarat. The law allows companies
within SEZs to lay off redundant workers, without seeking the permission of the
government, by giving a formal notice and severance pay.
West Bengal:-The West Bengal government revised its labour laws
making it virtually impossible to shut down a loss-making factory. The
West Bengal law applies to all companies within the state that employ 70 or
more employees.
However, each and every situation has some positive as well as negative
aspects related to it, the same is the situation with the aforementioned
situation of the labour laws. The labour laws may prove to be in favour of the
workmen, but we can’t ignore those who are at the receiving end of these laws
i.e., the employers who employ the workforce. As the continuously growing
competition in the markets squeezes the profit margin and in such conditions
adhering to all the laws becomes difficult for the employers, such difficulty
of the employer is being exploited by the persons of power (trade unions) or
the government officials who are given the responsibility of ensuring the
protection of rights of the workforce.
The corruption is not the only by-product of these multiple laws but
also underemployment as the employers just to avoid the applicability of some
of the laws keep the count of employees less than 8 (eight) whereas they
require more than 20 (twenty) persons for the nature of work being carried on
by them.
That due to multiple labour laws, the economy of entire country is being
hindered because the compliances of the aforementioned laws becomes cumbersome and
consumes a lot of time. The investment which our country could have garnered,
is also being hampered as the investors are not confident of the growth as per
their expectations.
Now in the wake of the Corona Virus, several big companies are trying to
shift their manufacturing basis from China to other parts of the world. Our
country is also emerging in the minds of the investors being a country offering
cheap labour and offering safe environment unlike the African countries which
are unsafe and even lack the basic infrastructures.
The present situation demanded an
immediate action so in order to attract investment in our country for setting
up of manufacturing units and other infrastructure products the state of Uttar
Pradesh took the initiative to change the applicability of the prevalent labour
laws and the state has tabled an ordinance whereby the state has done away with
all the labour laws except
a. Bonded Labour
System Abolition Act 1976 (act abolishing the system of bonded labour),
b. Employee Compensation Act, 1923 (act
ensuring statutory liability upon an employer to discharge his moral obligation
towards employees when they suffer from any physical disabilities or diseases,
during the course of employment in hazardous working conditions),
c. Building and other Construction Workers Act, 1996 (safety, health and welfare
measures); and
d. Section 5 of The Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (ensure timely payment of daily wages).
It is simply shocking to note that the
Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 has also been taken down by the state, it is saddening
as it is a clear violation of fundamental rights given to a women under the Constitution
of India. It is pertinent to mention here that the aforementioned ordinance is applicable for a period of three years only.
The ordinance since is a subject of concurrent list and there being a
different law upon the same subject which has been enacted by the Parliament,
thus under Article 254 of the Constitution of India the ordinance has to receive the assent of the Hon’ble President of India,
meaning thereby that the state of Uttar Pradesh has
become the first state of India where only three acts related to the labour laws
are applicable. It is pertinent to mention here that the aforementioned ordinance is applicable for a period of three years only.
Henceforth,
as I would see it, Governments have a protected obligation to guarantee simply,
altruistic states of work and maternity benefits. The physical health and mental
strength of the workforce can’t be taken away by citing monetary growth as a reason.
The Central Government was, however, in the
process on simplifying these multiple state laws into 4 Labour Codes. The
labour laws would have been broadly divided into four basic aspects of Labour
laws namely
1.
Wages,
2.
Social
Security and Welfare,
3.
Industrial
Relations,
4.
Occupational
Safety and Health and Working Conditions.
However the government was contemplating the
aforementioned change but the industrial growth was badly hit by the COVID-19
pandemic, and the steps taken by the Central Government could not be
materialized. In the present situation we now as the citizens of this great
country owe a responsibility to make sure that the masses of this country i.e.,
our labourers, farmers and factory workers or to say all those persons who were
protected under the exempted labour laws are not again subjected to exploitation.
JAI HIND!
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