Is it hard on Labour?

India one of the most shining and growing economy; it won’t be a lie to say Indian economy showed it true potential in the past few decades, a former third world country enslaved by a foreign power for so many centuries, rose as one of the first countries to recognize the principle nonviolence and promoted human rights wholeheartedly; The question is does this shining Indian economy belongs to every Indian or its exclusive of just a few handfuls of them.

India started liberalizing its economy in 1991, open flow of foreign direct investment FDI, Industrial licensing was abolished for all projects except in 18 industries, Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act was repealed to eliminate the need for prior approval by large companies for diversification. These reforms boosted India’s economy the draconian socialistic approach was left behind for the golden days and so far steps taken by the Government paid well.

So why today there’s a hue and cry about the new labour law reforms and what’s the condition of India’s one of the largest strength “The Workforce”.

To better understand these complex labour and employer situation we’re going to normalize this concept with the relation of Kattappa and Bahubali family.

The Kattappas (Labours)

Although the globalization reached this country since 1991 and even before that; the policy of protection of labour rights was adopted way before. If we try to trace back the organized labour movement, we find our self in 1884 when N.M. Joshi who was a factory worker himself organized an agitation calling it “The Conference of Workers” and called for representation of workers in the Factory Committee appointed by Government to study the condition of working-class employed in factories. The seriousness of Indian administration towards labour rights can we be seen in the early laws passed by the Government of independent India, such as The Employees State Insurance Act,1948, Industrial Act 1946, Minimum Wages Act 1948, Factories Act 1948.

So it’s not wrong to say the government and laws were determined to protect the workers from any kind of exploitation, I guess after being enslaved by so many foreign powers India and its administration can feel the agony of workers. Sounds Ethiopian reform right! But when one looks at the seriousness of government and legal awareness, he can easily think that India is one of few countries which provided safety and protection to its workforce. But a recently released government report paints a harrowing picture of the condition of workers in India with most earning less than half of the minimum accepted norms, 71% not having any written job contract making them informal workers, 54% not getting paid leaves 57% in rural and 80% in urban areas working beyond the 8 hours barricade making it 48 hours a week.

This horrifying picture doesn’t stop here, the report continues stating that over 52% of workers are actually “self-employed” which means they may be doing farming, running small shops or enterprises largely with their own labour, or service provider of various kinds; so when PM Modi address the nation and urged India to became more self-reliant ‘Atamanirbhar’ turned out many of them already accepted that ideology.

According to seventh pay commission, set up by the central government to fix salaries of central employees, the minimum wage; in rural areas, both self-employed and casual workers earn less than half of this minimum standard while the regularly employed earn about two-thirds of it. This is indicative of the intense crisis they are facing by small and marginal workers in the country.

It simply means these laws behaved like merely dead words on the books and Kattappas have to serve to Bahubali family without much of a protection, written contract and less than minimum wage, and the majority of these rights violation goes unchecked because it happened in the unorganized sector.

Labour Policy of India

Labour Policy in India has been evolving in response to specific needs and it’s still pretty much responsive. However the old labour policy was focused to promote industrial peace and welfare of labour; by schemes like Reprioritization of allocation of funds to benefit vulnerable workers, Unified and beneficial management of funds of Welfare Boards; Social security cards for workers, more labour sectors under Minimum Wages Act, Modern medical facility for workers.

Child Labour

When Kattappa joined the force he was merely adolescence, he was bound by the words of his family to serve at any cost. This condition is still present in Indian society, however; here there are no bounding words of family, but poverty.

One can easily say that the lawmakers and administration do genuinely want to protect labour and its rights, but we’ve already seen the reality is way beyond this legislation, even after laws like the abolition of Child Labour and the aggressive implementation of it, there are more than 10 million child labourers in India (as per the census of 2011) of which more than 5 million are boys and more than 4 million are girls.

UNICEF also recorded that despite the rate of child labour declining over the last few years, children are still being used in some severe forms of child labour such as bonded labour; labour can be found in a variety of industries: in bricks kilns, carpet weaving, domestic services. Children are also at risk of various other forms of exploitation including sexual exploitation and production of child pornography, including online.

Forced Labour, debt bondage and Social vulnerability

It was not a joke when Kattappa said he’s a servant of the Mahishmati Kingdom and Bahubali family; he was literally a going to serve till his last breath it was the life his ancestors chose for him. Unfortunately many in this country are forced live that kind of life not because they’re ancestor promised that but because they’ve been bought like a slave and treated like a slave, they called “Bonded Labour.”

Bonded labour is defined in the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act of 1976 as a system of forced labour or partly forced labour under which a debtor accepts an advance of cash or in-kind in exchange for a pledge of his or any family member’s or other dependent’s labour or service to, or for the benefit of, the creditor.

Bonded labour is deeply entrenched in India’s socio-economic structure. More than a mere economic model for the organization of labour, debt bondage is an exploitative practice reinforced through coercion and custom remember ‘Kattappa’ he was a slave of a particular kingdom as well.

The practice of debt bondage persists predominantly in the informal and unregulated sector, which is estimated to employ around 96% of the workforce in India. The absence or lack of implementation of labour standards in these sectors creates a severe power imbalance in employer-employee relationships exacerbates workers’ vulnerability to exploitation; Furthermore due to the chronic underpayment of minimum wages.

Criminal Liability

Law tried to put a stop in these malpractices as well, and it won’t be fair to say the administration and legal frame worker turned their faces on them. Laws like the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and is supported by labour legislation such as the Contract Labour Act of 1970, the inter-state Migrant Workers Act, and the Minimum wages Act.

These can prevent any Bahubali family to use Kattappa as a slave to a particular family, and impose criminal liability. But in reality, even after strict restriction, things actually skip from the cracks of legislation.

Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code was introduced in mid-2013. This section prohibits trafficking for physical and sexual exploitation; it’s unfortunate the Act blatantly avoids mental harassment in the workplace.

However, the exploitation here is an umbrella term where it includes sexual exploitation, slavery or practice similar to slavery, servitude and forced removal of organs.

Protection of Kattappas

Besides old rusty and tacky armour, Kattappa didn’t have any other protection and Bahubali family barely cared for one, but here for modern-day labour were provided so much protection through the law of course.

The labour legislation in India is complex, with over 40 Central legal mechanisms segmented by the industry or type of work, including a variety of Acts regarding work in factories, plantations and construction work. The legislation addresses issues such as maximum working hours, minimum wage, health and safety, and working conditions.

However, it is estimated over 90% of workers in India work in the informal economy and is therefore vulnerable to exploitation in an informal and unregulated environment.

In forced labour cases, labour officials who attend the rescue are meant to ensure that withheld wages of the labourer are paid. Generally, these are calculated on the day and a claim is initiated by the labour officials under the Minimum Wages Act.

When we talk about these labour reform and labour rights we totally ignore another factor and that is the Industrialist.

Industries and Industrialist

Well, we simply can’t overlook the case that Bahubali family was the rulers of the kingdom and they were the one providing security and justice to the land. Similarly, industries and industrialists provide jobs, boost to the economy, technological advancement and innovation.

Just focusing on labours and their condition, their problem and their rights make our quest ‘Socialistic’ approach, and for a perfectly balanced society, Industries and their rights are also pretty important.

When one portrays the picture of an Industrialist, the depiction is similar to 70’s Bollywood villain, lives in mansions, drives the expensive vehicle, and has a lavish lifestyle. And this portrayal is far from real; in reality, Indian Industrialists are out to establish India’s once existing economic excellence in the world.

Illegal exploitation is a dark truth of India’s labour structure, but it is also not wrong to say India’s economy is one of the fastest-growing economies, because of the Industrialists and their excellence in the world.

It is not hidden from the world that when Y2K happened ‘the land of snake charmers’ took the initiative and led the world in advance cyber race. India not only embraced the modern development of technology is also adapted in the world. When Bill Gates said “Internet is the next big thing” do you think he imagined a third world country, potentially a global superpower; has an active internet user around 850 million, and the numbers keep growing.

‘The ease of doing businesses coupled with India’s vibrant market and consumer base is sure accelerating business in India.

The liberal economic policies and breathing room for private-run industries delivered that to us. It not only changed the life of every Indian, but it also introduced new opportunities to every household; just in two-three decades the approach towards the world and international trade is changed vividly; the world is not a big bad and dark for them.

Even lacking for more than 2 decades from China in liberalization and Globalization India speed is top notched. Indian businesses have traditionally fared well in the global space. If we see Indian companies rank high among the Top 100 or 500 global companies. India has groups that are multinationals in the true sense of the words but with Indian origins such as Mahindra, Tata, Jindal, Adani and Vedanta etc. Given the expansion spree of Indian companies, Indian groups are poised to take on the globe right now.

Protection for Industrialist

Like Kattappas, the administration also need to promote and protect the rights of Bahubali family, one can’t simply be put on trial just because he is Industrialist, that’s a very communist way!

India’s industrial design protection under Design Act 2000 refers to a type of Intellectual Property Right (IPR) that gives the exclusive rights to make, use and sell products embodying the protected design to the selected people only. In general, these protection rights have a life span of 10 years, but if needed the owner can get them renewed for an additional time slot of five (5) years.

The Design Act and IPR is the legislative approach towards the Industries and protection of their rights; however, the quest for industrial development started soon after independence in 1947. The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1948 defined the broad contours of the policy delineating the role of the state in industrial development both as an entrepreneur and authority.

Policy towards Industries

The main objectives of the Industrial Policy of the Government are to maintain a sustained growth in productivity; to enhance gainful employment; to achieve optimal utilization of human resources; to attain international competitiveness and to transform India into a major partner and player in the global arena.

COVID and Post Covid

Sadly, India didn’t care about much labour just like Bahubali family didn’t care about Kattappa, long working hours, putting him on combat in his old days.

Chinese coronavirus knocked India’s gate no one was prepared for it. And it already gave our economy a very hard-time to deal with it. When Central Govt. announced economic bailout package, it barely made any difference to already suffering economy, the 7 weeks lockdown bought the economy’s production capacity to complete halt.

We can see the grave effect of these lockdown on Migrant workers. These migrant workers during COVID-19 pandemic have multiple hardships. When factories and workplaces were ordered to be closed due to the lockdown imposed in the country, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages and uncertainty about their future. Following this, many of them and their families went hungry.

Thousands of them started their journey back to there on foot, because there was no means of transport available due to lockdown. It also made a very firm statement that administration didn’t fail to provide the necessary support towards these labours, they didn’t even try More than 300 migrant workers died due to the lockdown, with reasons ranging from starvation, suicides, exhaustion, road and rail accidents, police brutality and denial of timely medical care.

However Central and State did provide the travelling facilities to migrants, followed by several directives for their protection and safety because there was no system in place to mobilize, organize and coordinate for their protection and safety; all in all its all too little too late.

The New Labour Reform

The Parliament on Wednesday passed the three labour code bills–the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Condition Code, 2020; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; and the Code on Social Security, 2020–merging 34–central labour laws in a major boost to labour reforms.

Although the new reform talks about compulsory medical checkups, home visits and emergency aid to written terms for employment;

But these reforms were heavily criticized by the labour union and opposition, many of them compared this labour reform to the notorious ‘Simon Commission’, many kinds of assumption were made; these reforms were called as a tool of neo-colonization.

The reforms were criticized mainly on two points, these bills focus on organized and skilled labour, and do not put much emphasis on unorganized and unskilled labour which is more than 90% of the total workforce.

Second, the famous ‘Hire and Fire’ rules in mid-size and large industries, making retrenchment easier. This is almost identical to the US version. Labour economist KR Shyam of XLRI, Jamshedpur said defined: “This hire and fire model to the Indian hinterland economy in the hope that businesses recoup and add more jobs on a net basis.”

The new Industrial Relation Code, the government has allowed companies with up to 300 workers to the fire workers or shut plants without the prior approval of the government.

Earlier labour laws required a 30 to 90 day notice period before retrenching ‘workmen’, which is a class of mainly shop floor workers. In the case of manufacturing units, plantations and mines with 100 or more workmen, lay-offs also required government approval. To be sure, 90% of India’s workforce, which is employed in the informal sector, won’t be affected by these changes.

According to the World Bank, with less restrictive laws, India could approximately add on an annual basis “2.8 million more good quality formal sector jobs.”

The Industrial relation Code lays down new condition on the right of workers to go on strike. Unions now have to give 60 days’ strike notice. If proceedings are pending before a labour tribunal or the National Industrial Tribunal, workers cannot go to strike for 60 days after they are concluded. These conditions apply to all industries. Earlier, workers could go on strike by giving between two weeks and six weeks of notice. Flash Strikes are now outlawed.

To make hiring easier, the law now prescribes a single license for staffing firms to hire contract workers across different locations instead of the erstwhile regime of multiple location-specific licenses.

Will this new reform change anything? Well, these laws talk only about organized and contracted labours, 90% of the Kattappas doesn’t fall in that category, however, it does give a morale boost to Bahubali family and Industrialist.

In the end, it’s not wrong to say that its government’s desperate attempt to save the GDP and promote Economic boost, and at some point it not all bad.

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About Author:

Author Name: Vaibhav Shukla

Bio: Vaibhav Shukla is currently perusing his degree in law from RTMNU; he's a reader by day and writer by night; his passion for international affairs and obsession with politics made him write about topics like this. He's inspired by the writings of Jay Soloman and Meisha Glenny.