The Wire: Venkat T., Srividya Tadepalli & Thomas Manuel: Kerala: Monday, May 21, 2018.
The Left Front government in Kerala unveiled its new labour reforms policy that promises to increase floor minimum wage to Rs. 600/- a day, while creating various administrative structures to improve employability and protection of migrant workers. Like in the case of Delhi, the penalties for violation of minimum wages have been made more stringent. While abolishing all forms of child labour, the policy aims to create crèches in all districts to support child care for working mothers. To fund this, the government will impose a crèche cess on all establishments employing women workers. The government has also claimed that it would discourage ‘flash strikes’, which has been a major concern for investors.
Farmers protest bullet train project that will acquire their lands
Mumbai witnessed yet another farmer mobilisation this week against the ‘bullet train’ project which intends to acquire agricultural lands between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The protests were triggered after the state government diluted the powers of the Gram Sabha in consenting for the land acquisition. On Thursday, farmers from Raigad, Thane, Nashik, Vidharbha, Konkan, Palghar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Dahanu, Gadchiroli and Nandurbar came together under the banner of Bhumi Adhikar Andolan to protest against a notification issued by the Governorwhich dilutes the power of gram sabhas when it comes to infrastructural projects.
In Bhavnagar, Gujarat, over 5,000 farmers have sought permission to commit mass suicide at the prospect of land acquisition for a spate of projects including a petrochemical refinery and high-speed rail corridor. Farmers across Gujarat have been facing state violence for opposing moves to acquire productive farmlands. The threat of losing livelihoods or facing brutal police action has forced many to such desperation.
Has the Mudra scheme created the promised jobs?
When confronted over the promise to create crores of jobs, BJP president Amit Shah had responded claiming the Mudra scheme, launched by the NDA to provide loans to promote entrepreneurship, had created over 7 crore jobs. The Wire’s report, based on RTI information, investigates this claim. While the 7 crore figure comes from the overall loans disbursed by public sector banks under this scheme, the issue of whether or not it translated into jobs, as claimed by Amit Shah, remains a guess as there is no clear data. But the size of loans disbursed so far raises questions about its effect on job creation. The number of loans over 5 lakh rupees, which would be necessary to set up a productive business, was a mere 1.3%. The average loan size remains at a mere Rs. 52,000, too low for creating remunerative jobs. Private research institutions also estimate that the actual jobs created because of the scheme, both direct and indirect, could not be more than 1.7 crores. Unfortunately, the loans disbursed are also classified as risky as there is no collateral for these loans. With over Rs. 2.53 lakh crores disbursed in 2017-18, public sector banks are also highly concerned at the prospect of these loans turning NPAs.
BJP state governments push ahead with labour reforms
While the central government has been facing severe opposition to its attempts to dilute labour laws, BJP-led state governments have been pushing ahead with the changes demanded by employers and investors. This article in NewsClick compiles the various changes enacted by states to amend labour regulation in the past four years. The central government, which had promised to reform the existing 44 labour laws into four codes, has not been able to move significantly ahead in this direction. While the labour code on wages has come close to being enacted, the rest have remained at various levels of drafting and approval. The government had also scaled back certain measures due to severe opposition from unions. Given this context and the impending elections, BJP has used the state governments as a way to bypass national scrutiny of its labour reforms by pushing it at the state level.
Dehradun sanitation workers’ strike continues into the second week
Sanitation workers in Dehradun municipality had gone on an indefinite strike demanding regularisation of employment and increase in wages. Even after four rounds, the talks between the government officials and the workers remained inconclusive. On May 18, the talks broke down after the union representatives claimed that the officials had gone back on their verbal agreement to offer permanent jobs to the workers. The strike has continued well into the second week causing severe sanitary issues in the mountain retreat.
On May 15, the Municipal Commissioner had dismissed 164 workers for failing to present themselves for work in spite of repeated orders. The workers refused to buckle, continuing their united strike, which forced the administration to return to dialogue. Union leaders claim that on May 17, the negotiating officials had agreed to fulfil their demands to give permanent jobs to workers, raise their wages to match the minimum wages in the state and revoke the dismissal of striking workers. They had offered to provide a written guarantee. On this basis, the workers had decided to call off the strike. But the officials, union leaders claim, went back on their word and did not guarantee a rise in wages or reinstatement of dismissed workers.
Delays in wage payments under MGNREGS not acceptable: SC
The Supreme Court has come down heavily on the central government and state governments for the inordinate delays in paying wages to MGNREGS workers. It has ordered the governments to clear all the back wages at the earliest with compensation for delay. Stating that the governments involved cannot keep passing the buck, the top court said that under the Act, a worker was entitled to get his or her due wages within a fortnight of completion of work and if there was any administrative inefficiency or laxity, it was entirely for the state governments and the Ministry of Rural Development to sort out the problem. The issue of delays in wage payments and the denial of compensations had been covered in last week’s issue of this column.
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