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Interviews | Rajiv Khandelwal, co-founder and director, and Divya Varma, programme manager, policy and partnerships, of Aajeevika Bureau, interviewed by Civil Society News
Rajiv Khandelwal, co-founder and director, and Divya Varma, programme manager, policy and partnerships, of Aajeevika Bureau, interviewed by Civil Society News

Rajiv Khandelwal, co-founder and director, and Divya Varma, programme manager, policy and partnerships, of Aajeevika Bureau, interviewed by Civil Society News

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published Published on Nov 12, 2020   modified Modified on Nov 13, 2020

-CivilSocietyOnline.com

When millions of workers literally burst on to the scene during the sudden lockdown in India, the entire country was shocked by how vulnerable they seemed. They didn’t have housing, savings, healthcare and rights as employees. In their large numbers, they accounted for the majority of the workforce and yet there was no one to speak for them.

The lockdown was expected to be a watershed moment because of this unsettling experience. Going forward, it was hoped that labour laws would be rationalized so that they would be simpler for industry and also enhance the security of workers. Instead, the opposite seems to have happened with the emphasis being on hire and fire by industry and workers ending up more insecure.

Four Labour Codes have been passed: The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, the Industrial Relations Code, the Code on Social Security and the Wage Code, which was passed last year.

We spoke to Rajiv Khandelwal, co-founder and director, and Divya Varma, programme manager, policy and partnerships, of Aajeevika Bureau based in Rajasthan. They have for many years worked closely with migrant workers to get them their rights and have a deep understanding of their needs and expectations.

* Do you think the new Labour Codes will improve employment as industry says it will?

R.K.: Categorically, no. What industry is happy about is that a significant part of its own constituency is being put out of the purview of regulation — by redefining what formalization means and by changing the potential for industrial action by making unions almost redundant.

It’s really very paradoxical that the Codes have been passed just when this migrant crisis
happened. At this time we needed pro-worker responses. What the Codes are doing is taking away very fundamental worker protection. Labour laws are not implemented very well, anyway. They don’t come in the way of industrial growth.

The Codes are an even sharper signal to industry to go ahead and  continue to do what they do with labour, but maybe with more impunity.

* Would you agree that there is a need to rationalize these laws because they come in the way of industry running their businesses?

D.V.: Yes, I would agree there is a need to look at labour laws afresh. I think what is happening is that informality has been legalized. The fragmentation of value chains that used to happen earlier was off the record. Now it’s become officially mandated.

Regarding industry’s narrative of labour laws stymying growth, we have studied practices in China, Vietnam and other countries witnessing higher growth than India. The experience there is that they are achieving higher growth in spite of labour protection and security.

Please click here to read more.

Image Courtesy: CivilSocietyOnline.com


CivilSocietyOnline.com, 12 November, 2020, https://www.civilsocietyonline.com/interviews/basic-worker-protections-taken-away-under-new-labour-codes/


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