The labour ministry has sorted out most of the issues, including enforcement of labour laws and simplification of procedures, related to the new manufacturing policy with the commerce and industry ministries.
??We have told them (commerce and industry ministries) that the enforcement of labour laws is a must and has to be done by the government. No private organisation can monitor whether these laws are implemented. As far as simplification of procedures such as registration of employees and filing returns is concerned, we are perfectly fine with it,?? said Prabhat C Chaturvedi, labour secretary.
He said the ministry would more than welcome any offer by private employers in the manufacturing units over and above what is already specified in the labour laws. ??If someone agrees to give 20 days remuneration instead of 15 in case of exit of an employee, we have no problem with that. But it can in no case be less than that,?? he said.
With the draft policy aiming at a creation of over 100 million jobs, the labour ministry had raised objections that the manufacturing policy did not meet India’s obligations under the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary RP Singh had earlier asked: ??What about creating jobs for the millions of people who are going to join the workforce? That should be their (labour ministry’s) concern now.??
DIPP was proposing more compensation and more retrenchment allowance in case the factory faced problem and workers needed to be redeployed. The draft policy has also suggested that the proposed National Manufacturing Investment Zones (NMIZs) ? big enclaves which could even subsume special economic zones ? should be given the flexibility to downsize the labour force.
To entice investors, the zones promise to provide world-class infrastructure such as ports and airports and free up labour laws – including making it easier to fire workers and easing regulations on wage payouts after a company closes down.
Experts have been saying that since the country is heavily reliant on services, India must shift economic gears towards manufacturing if it is to maintain a near-double digit growth.
