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| Sunday, 24 February 2002 |
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Indian govt committed to social security for workers: PM NEW DELHI, Feb 23 (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said Saturday his government was committed to ensuring social security for workers, a day after the federal cabinet approved labour reforms allowing some employers to dismiss employees without government approval. "The industrial scene has changed dramatically," the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Vajpayee as telling a gathering in the Indian capital New Delhi. "What has remained unchanged is the government's commitment to ensure social security for workers." India presently has no social security system of benefits for the unemployed. Vajpayee said there was a need to formulate a national policy on social security funded by both the state and the private sector. "We should strengthen and activate all the non-state providers of social security," he said. "For the poorest of the poor, the state can also contribute partly to various social security schemes, which may be run by government companies, private companies and social organisations." On Friday, the Indian cabinet approved amendments to a 54-year-old industrial employment law which, if passed by parliament, will be a shot in the arm for India's stop-start economic reforms. Industrial establishments employing less than 1,000 workers can now lay off staff or carry out closures without government permission, raising the threshold from 100 workers. As a counterbalance, severance compensation for workers will be increased from 15 days to 45 days for every completed year of service. Industrial houses and chambers of commerce in India had welcomed the announcement, saying the move would help them increase productivity and compete more efficiently in a rapidly globalising environment. But the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Saturday opposed the government's move. "If this proposal is approved by parliament, it would grant blanket right of hire and fire to industrial establishments employing 85 percent of the organised workers in the country," a party statement said. The move was also opposed by an party in Vajpayee's coalition government. Bal Thackeray, the head of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party told the Star News channel that ministers belonging to his party in the Vajpayee cabinet would resign if the government went ahead with the proposed labour law reforms. The Shiv Sena has two cabinet and one junior minister in Vajpayee's cabinet. |
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