The Union Government has brought a National Employment Policy of India for implementation, staggering it into a time-bound programme for 2025–2027, 2027–2037 and 2037–2047, calling it ‘Shrama Dharma’ – the moral value of work. The draft policy was published on 8 October. After complying with certain formalities, the policy will be implemented.
The vehicle through which the programme is expected to be carried out is a prelude to the implementation of four Labour Codes, namely the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, and the Code on Social Security, 2020. These codes were passed in Parliament during the period 2020–2024.
A notification giving effect to these codes will be published in the Official Gazette and will be effective from the date of notification. There is a paradigm shift between the policies now followed and the policies proposed.
Digitalisation and the application of Artificial Intelligence are the tools for its implementation. The Ministry of Labour, which is considered to be the Ministry safeguarding the interests of workers and promoting industry and labour, will be converted into a Ministry for the facilitation of employment.
The relationships and methods of production will undergo a sea change. Capital and technology will take the front seat, and the participation of the human element will be limited. Capital will capture the world of production. Events are taking place to make a quick shift in production methods and relationships.
Artificial Intelligence of world standard is coming up under the ownership of Gautam Adani in Visakhapatnam, in collaboration with Google. Already, the main sectors of production, such as railways, airports and ports, are owned by Adani. With his new Artificial Intelligence project in Visakhapatnam, instead of the government, he will be managing the entire realm of production.
The government is withdrawing and taking up the role of facilitator. The policy paper suggests training and skill upgradation through an institute known as the V.V. Giri Labour Institute in New Delhi. Millions of workers who earn their livelihood will be in peril.
The proposed National Policy is ultra vires to our Constitution. It negates the aims envisaged in the Preamble, Chapter III – the Fundamental Rights – and Chapter IV – the Directive Principles. It is stated that there will be a unique system of three tiers – Central, State and District.
This will destroy the federal character of our Constitution. Labour is a Concurrent subject, yet it becomes a Union. There are about 104 State Labour Laws governing labour relations in India. Once the policy is implemented, all the State legislations will become invalid.
The workers’ rights will be converted into Dharma, and the system prevalent in ancient India is to be re-established. When rights become Dharma, the worker will not have any bargaining rights or any of the other rights accruing from various laws, tripartite agreements, and the rights achieved through a sustained, long struggle.
It is stated in the policy document that labour is a sacred duty and a social value. ‘Manusmriti’, ‘Yajnavalkya Smriti’, ‘Naradasmriti’ and ‘Arthashastra’, and the concept of Raja Dharma will be followed to ensure justice, fair wages and protection of workers from exploitation. ‘Sulka Nyaya’ and ‘Sukraniti’, which formed the ancient labour philosophy, will be revived to settle grievances.
The country is driven back to a retrogressive feudal theory. The new labour policies will regenerate a caste system based on occupation. Dr Ram Manohar Lohia pointed out that caste is an “immobilised class”. Naturally, the policy will lead to the old caste system, with workers as the lower caste and entrepreneurs as the higher class. This will lead to a new class struggle to establish the rights of workers.
Our Constitution envisages equality and social justice. The new policy and the labour codes bring back the old caste system based on occupation. Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of our Constitution, burned the Manusmriti and introduced a Constitution promising equality and equity. To uplift the downtrodden, the outcaste and the voiceless, a reservation policy was adopted, which we are following, but which is now being thrown to the winds. If the policies suggested are implemented, new Ekalavyas will be born. Naturally, a new class struggle will emerge.
The policy proposed by the Union Government is totally against the universally accepted principles laid down by the ILO and UN Conventions and OECD recommendations. Tripartism is the practice and law followed internationally. If the proposed policy is implemented, tripartism will come to nullity.
All the principles accepted in the international scenario – that the worker is a weaker section, that workers and employers are equal partners, and that matters are to be settled through tripartite mechanisms and four methods: direct negotiation, conciliation, arbitration and adjudication – will be dismantled. According to the policy, work becomes Dharma and not a right. Wages will turn into honorarium. Collective bargaining will have no space in settling grievances. This will lead to unbridled exploitation.
The existing labour relations in India evolved through a long period of discussion, struggle and judicial decisions. Two National Labour Commissions were appointed. The first, chaired by Justice Gajendragadkar, recognised labour rights and gave birth to a number of legislations protecting labour rights. The second, chaired by Ravindra Varma, recommended the rights of unorganised workers.
The new policy envisages that it will protect the interests of organised and unorganised workers. But it simultaneously proclaims that the whole workforce will be placed into new categories — contract workers, gig workers and platform workers. They are entrusted with duties only, not with any rights.
The entire working class will be thrown to the mercy of the entrepreneur. A new social order of entrepreneur and worker will emerge, a system of voiceless workers and empowered entrepreneurs. India will return to the old system of ‘Chaturvarnya’ — workers sacrificing their knowledge for the privileged.
(The author is a Former Member of Parliament, Labour Leader and a practising lawyer)