Economic Liberalisation and Labour Reform in India

Contents: 1. Economic liberalisation: an overview. 2. Impact of economic liberalisation. 3. Second national commission on labour: a critical analysis. 4. Issue of international labour standards. Bibliography.

"Labour reform in India, in the context of globalization and economic liberalization is much desired, but also feared and misinterpreted. The issue has been tough one, ever since the liberalization era began in the early 1990s. this is because of the enormity and uniqueness of the subject and also due to the initial approach and the way government and industry adopted to address it.

One of the major issues of labour reform in India has to do with repealing certain laws. Various countries, including Britain, New Zealand and United States, have liberalized their labour legislations, but India remains hesitant about amending laws that are detrimental to economic growth. It is unfortunate that while labour laws in India were designed to be the employee friendly, they have ended up becoming anti-employment.

Neither an indifferent management approach nor trade union militancy is going to lead to labour reform. A positive and careful approach is required about painless labour reform in this country." (jacket)