'Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the national trade union affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has come out against the government’s labour reforms, saying the proposed law against the interest of workers. The government tabled the Industrial Relations Code, 2019 in the Parliament on Thursday. The Bill seeks to offer a slew of benefits to industries by curtailing compliance burden as well as employee benefits.
'Dilshaer Ali, 33, runs a small wood carving workshop in central Kashmir’s Budgam district. After the Valley shutdown to protest the dilution of Article 370 on August 5, Ali didn’t return to his hometown in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Many of Ali’s colleagues and associates from states like UP, Bihar, Orissa and Uttarakhand, who worked in different parts of Kashmir as woodcarvers, plumbers and painters, left the valley in the weeks after August 5. He, however, preferred to stay back with his family in Budgam...
'A recent working paper published by the Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University has contested official claims on employment, showing an “unprecedented” fall in total employment from 2011-12 to 2017-18. Written by Santosh Mehrotra and Jajati K. Parida, the study says employment dropped by 9 million between these years – “for the first time in India’s history”.
'In what could be a grim indicator of rural distress and the lack of employment opportunities, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) data shows that the share of workforce in the 18-30 age bracket has begun to rise in the wake of demonetisation and the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The data, analysed by the Indian Express, indicates that the share of the workforce in the 18-30 age group has begun moving up after the financial year 2017-18...'
'Declaring the indefinite strike by unions of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) illegal, chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said more than 50,000 protesting employees will not be taken back into service. Employees of the public road transport body have been on a strike since Saturday morning, demanding the corporation’s merger with the government. Among the other demands were filling various posts and better pay and job security. A call to strike was given after talks with the government failed to make any headway...'
'...Privatisation is being introduced in diverse ways. Some public sector enterprises are earmarked for outright sale, not just loss-making ones, but even those which make handsome profits. In others, the government intends to reduce its own share of equity below 51% through disinvestment. In still others, the idea is to break up the total activity into several different individual activities and to privatise some individual activities by divesting the public sector of those; this last route is what is being followed with regard to the Railways.
'An order passed by the administration of union territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli, on the “mobilisation of industrial workers by the officers” during Amit Shah’s visit, has been criticised for involving the government machinery in political events. The Union home minister and Bharatiya Janata Party president is addressing a rally in Silvassa on September 1.
'It is ironical that the Narendra Modi government, which never tires of reminding everybody about their nationalism and patriotism, is actually following an economic policy of selling off the country’s national resources to foreign companies. It recently announced measures of easing foreign direct investment (FDI) in coal mining and associated infrastructure, contract manufacturing, single brand retail and digital media.
'Data collated by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) reveals that at least 50 persons have died cleaning sewers in the first six months of 2019 alone. According to a report in the Indian Express, the figure in question, by the NCSK’s own admission, is an underestimation as it only accounts for the number of deaths caused by cleaning sewers in only eight states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu out of 36 states and Union territories...'
'“I was beaten up, abused and forced to pick up faeces and excreta despite being hired to do construction work. Modi ji wants to wash the feet of the sanitation workers. Would he ever know what it means to be forced into picking up human faeces?” Asks a teary eyed Kedabai from Madhya Pradesh. Over 50 crore workers in India are employed in the unorganised sector. The National Campaign Committee for Eradication of Bonded Labour (NCCBL), along with district magistrate and local officials, has rescued 125 bonded labourers from four districts.
