Labour and its discontent : India’s big problem of low-quality employment
- The vast majority of India faces the socio-economic problem to have earning good livelihoods. As the issue is not only about the employment
- But the poor quality of employment — insufficient and uncertain incomes, and poor working conditions, wherever they are employed.
How does better quality employment lead to good livelihood?
- As dominant “theory-in-use” explains that to increase employment is to improve the ease of doing business with the expectation that investments in businesses will improve citizens’ ease of earning good livelihoods
- As a result, labour laws need to be “flexible” which will attract the investors to invest in the economy which will encourage the large and formal enterprises to create good jobs .
Government’s framework to bring labour reform:
- While recognizing the significance of labour reform, then ruling government timely brought the labour reform.
- Previous government made efforts to improve administration by simplifying procedures and digitization which were appreciated by employers as well as workers
- The next step to it was taken by currently government which also made significant provisions to make labour laws more employer-friendly.
Recent Labour reform and their areas of concern
- As labour is a state subject which includes many subjects — payment of wages, safety conditions, social security, terms of employment, and dispute resolution
- Therefore, Central government designed a framework for labour reforms which includes
- Code of Wages Act 2019
- Industrial Relations Code, 2020
- Social Security Code, 2020
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020.
Conclusion
- Therefore, Fundamental reforms are required in the theory of economic growth. As more GDP does not automatically produce more incomes at the bottom. There is need for paradigm driving employment and labour policies which enable the generation of better-quality livelihoods for Indian citizens now and in the future.
- And while bringing the labour reform it needs to be addressed that the concern of labour should be in priority while including them in law making process.