-TheWire.in In the name of simplification and universalisation, the new labour codes will likely result in increased worker exploitation. The Indian government has brought out four labour codes with the stated objective to rationalise and simplify the existing 44 labour laws. It is a welcome initiative to consolidate and simplify the delivery of justice to the working class. The four labour codes relate to wages, industrial relations, social security and welfare and...

  A document of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) dated 25th June, 2018 says that the number of members subscribing to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) scheme gives one an idea of the level of employment in the formal sector viz. mostly employment in establishments employing 20 or more persons (though EPF is applicable for certain organisations, which employ less than 20 persons, subject to certain conditions and...

-The Hindu Telangana’s experience is instructive The institutionalisation of “social audits” to ensure implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has been challenging. Since being included in the 2005 Act at the behest of social movements, social audits have been ineffective in most parts of the country due to government indifference. So far, 26 States have created social audit units (SAUs), but the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG’s) detailed guidelines...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a bid to ensure relief to more than four crore construction workers, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to treat them as formal sector employees by bringing them within the ambit of social welfare laws and provide benefits like paid maternity leave, provident fund and minimum wage. The court directed the Centre to frame a scheme to ensure workers receive proper education,...

-The Telegraph The Left in Bengal had often criticised him whenever he red-flagged excessive local tyranny, and spoke about the industrial decline in Bengal. The incumbent ruling party may make tall claims about changes in Bengal since the Trinamul government came to power but he has been candid enough to suggest that he hasn't seen much change either in industrial expansion or in investment in infrastructure. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has...