Editorial: Fair for Workers or Just Good on Paper?
LABOUR LAWS FOR VIKSIT BHARAT
Fair for Workers or Just Good on Paper?
The idea of Resurgent India always cheers me up. It symbolises our collective aspirations and achievements. My favourite topics are India’s intellectual heft, its rich philosophy and cultural diversity. Resurgent India implies that our people are prospering as our country scales new heights. Having said so, I must admit that I am a little uneasy when ‘Viksit Bharat’ is celebrated too soon. Despite my faith in the long-term India story, it feels like putting the cart before the horse.
The big picture is that India has a lot going for it, and Viksit Bharat does pop up in parts of smart cities. It is equally true that our luxury condos, fast cars, metros and expressways justify the tag. But sadly, it eludes the vast majority who live and work on the margins. Their condition belies any claims of resurgence. The scene is particularly grim in tenements around the hazardous sweatshops that pass for factories. Unlike the Western countries whose growth models we follow, we hardly factor in fair wages or a social safety net in our planning. Rather than profiting from productivity, innovation, and the rise of the rest, our businessmen thrive on cheap labour and the flouting of laws.
So, I was cautiously hopeful when India’s new labour codes were enacted under the Viksit Bharat vision. They were celebrated as a ‘future-ready’ plan meant to balance welfare with the ease of doing business. It began with consolidating 29 fragmented laws into four comprehensive labour codes. These cover minimum wages, equal pay, fair working conditions, and worker safety, etc. They also aim to include the left-out sections, such as domestic workers and gig and platform workers, whose rights have never received the attention of policymakers.
But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Their success will depend on their implementation on the ground. The new codes recently faced their first major test during labour strikes in NOIDA, Gurgaon, and the NCR. The workers were demanding a wage hike after the food and fuel prices spiked following the war in West Asia. Besides the news of violence, there were also reports of rampant discrimination in wages, no fixed hours of work, and no safety or overtime as mandated by the new labour codes. The crisis was finally resolved, but one hopes the policymakers noticed the gap between theory and practice. Reports from the ground showed that our workplaces remain extremely hazardous and accident-prone, our workers are mostly kept undocumented, and the laws are observed more in breach than in practice.
This issue of your journal is devoted to evaluating India’s new labour codes. It includes a ground report from an industrial area in the NCR and special articles on how the new codes address the plight of domestic workers and the gig and platform workers. It also excerpts two recent fact-finding reports on the condition of industrial workers in the NCR region and the abdication of duty by the main stakeholders. For instance, state governments should not be allowed to get away without fixing the minimum wages in a timely fashion, as mandated by law. Our small and unorganised sector, which contributes strongly to the economy, must also rise above the cheap labour syndrome and move up the global value chain to fuel the resurgent India story.
The task is enormous but not insurmountable.
Do let us know what you think at contact@commoncause.in
Vipul Mudgal
Editor
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