By Pradeep S Mehta
Better opportunity ? Proposed
changes include the need for approval from the government
for retrenchment in firms with over 300 workers, as against
the existing norm of 100 workers
In order to create new job
opportunities, one of the most remarkable steps taken by the
Vasundhara Raje government is to propose reforms in labour
laws, one of the key hurdles in industrial progress and
creation of new jobs.
Vasundhara Raje has started
taking forward looking steps to improve governance and
development in Rajasthan, which are welcome. She should aim
at taking the Gross State Domestic Product from the current
level of Rs4.8 lakh crore to Rs10 lakh crore by 2018, so
that two lakh new direct and six lakh indirect new jobs can
be created every year.
In order to create new jobs, one
most remarkable step taken by the government is to propose
reforms in labour laws, one of the key hurdles in industrial
progress and creation of new jobs. The proposed changes
include the need for approval from the government for
retrenchment in firms with over 300 workers, as against the
existing norm of 100 workers; ensuring that at least 30 per
cent of the labour force being members to recognise a trade
union.
For a worker to be sacked, s/he
will need to be given three month’s wages and a six month
bonus, over and above the normal dues. These changes will
help industry to work with greater peace and do what they
are required to do i.e. produce.
However, retrenched workers need
retraining with skills to do a different job, which also
needs to be provided in the amendment bill. Most importantly
trade unions have opposed such drastic amendments and thus
there is a need to sit across the table with them to find a
middle way, rather than force these changes on them. To get
a sustainable solution, the Planning Commission of India has
devised the India Backbone Implementation Network (IBIN) in
2013, which is a tool to get opposing stakeholders to sit
across the table and sort out their differences.
There are other laws governing
factories which too need to be reformed, such as the
Factories & Boilers Act. These reforms need to be
accompanied by optimal regulations, which will ensure that
firms do not engage in laissez faire manner and proceed
without any bridle. Another retrogressive law i.e. the Land
Acquisition Law (which actually has a very long name) also
needs to be amended by the state, which it can do. The way
it has been drafted, it may take up to four years for a new
plant to acquire land and start production.
Another progressive step is that
the state government is contemplating, the possibility of
privatisation of electricity distribution companies, or even
some of their duties. Our discoms are bleeding from heavy
subsidies that they had to shell out to meet with political
objectives and the government did not reimburse the same in
time.
If the discoms will be
privatised, then there are lessons from the privatisation of
the discoms in Delhi. In that exercise, the deals were fixed
and even the CAG had upbraided the government in Delhi. But
the privatisation did not really help as we see now-a-days
when most Delhites are screaming in torrid heat after facing
record breaking temperatures. Even the experience of Odisha,
which was the first state in India to privatise electricity
distribution, was sad. Lessons need to be drawn from all
such efforts so that Rajasthan does not repeat the mistakes.
Another step taken by the state
government is to disband the Planning Board and substitute
it with an economic advisory council with most members from
outside. In her earlier term the advisory council did exist
but hardly met. Some of the work done by the earlier
Planning Board under Ashok Gehlot’s regime was good, while
most was bad. The problem with the bad work done was the
lack of good expertise and poor articulation. Most states
have their own planning bodies, some are doing good work
while many are not, and some have atrophied because
incompetent people are heading them. Rajasthan can learn
from their experiences.
The writer is Secretary General,
CUTS International. The views expressed are his own
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