-Business Standard Scheme to benefit close to 450 million workers, mainly in the unorganised sector  Stung by repeated resistance from trade unions and strikes, the Narendra Modi government plans to launch a massive social security coverage scheme which will benefit almost 450 million workers, mainly in the unorganised sector. In order to achieve this, the government will attempt to create a corpus through which the benefits will be provided. The benefits include...

-The Hindu New Delhi: A group of central ministers led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet on Thursday to discuss the proposed labour code on wages and the Small Factories Bill, barely two weeks after trade unions led a nationwide strike to express opposition to proposed labour reforms. “The group of ministers will meet on Thursday to discuss the proposed code on wages,” Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said here on the...

-The Hindu The proposed labour reforms seek to weaken worker protection at a time when the Indian economy is not creating enough jobs, and the right kind of jobs. On September 2, 10 trade unions in India organised what was said to be one of the largest labour strikes in history. An estimated 120 million workers took part. The unions were protesting against the government’s unwillingness to grant a 12-point charter of...

-The Hindu Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh announces it will not take part in the strike. The Left affiliated central trade unions will go ahead with a nationwide strike on Friday, even as the Centre on Tuesday announced sops in a bid to placate them. The peace offering includes a hike in the minimum wage for unskilled non-agricultural workers in central public sector units from Rs. 246 to Rs. 350 a day and formation of...

-The Indian Express India should learn from China and start with liberalisation of rural land, labour and capital markets before attempting bigger things. Independence Day has come and gone with its usual mix of celebrations, pride and ruminations on how things could be better. Interestingly, several media commentaries tagged the event with the 25th anniversary of economic reforms, launched in 1991 around the same time of the year. They largely dwelt on the theme...