Webinar on Labour Regulations in India, 13 June 2020.

The Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT), Thiruvananthapuram organised a national webinar on the theme ‘Labour Regulations in India’ on Saturday, June 13, 2020 as part of its mandate to organise policy dialogues on topics of national and regional importance.

The webinar took place in the wake of several Indian state governments’ initiatives that aim to alter the content and reach of labour laws in the country. This naturally created anxiety and concern among workers across the country, especially given their limited ability and space to protest and voice their concerns. The GIFT conference sought to bring together representative organizations of workers and employers as well as academic scholars and policy practitioners to analyse and articulate a common approach to deal with emerging challenges in the world of work. It also represented a reiteration of this community’s commitment to the continued presence of labour laws that protect the fundamental rights of all workers. In addition, the webinar discussed the possibility of a collective approach towards enhancing such rights and entitlements at work.

The webinar took place in five sessions. A short inaugural session was followed by a technical session led by the national leaders of major trade unions in India. They reviewed the recent developments and discussed practical ways of dealing with the crisis. In the third session, the representatives of national and regional employers’ organisations gave their views on the emerging situation. The fourth session featured analytical inputs from leading scholars, who  examined the crucial components of labour standards practised in India with particular reference to employment, wages, conditions of work, social security, industrial relations and tri-partite structures. This session also went into the impact of poverty alleviation programmes and social security initiatives on workers both in the formal and informal markets. The final session focused on a common strategy that could be deployed to deal with the emerging labour situation in India. Organisations of workers and employers had the opportunity to respond to the queries raised in the preceding discussions and suggested practical ways to build on the rights and entitlements of all workers.

Seminar Report

Download Program              

Inaugural Session         Session 2             Session 3       Session 4           Open Disscussion and Concluding Session    

Media Coverage : Mathrubhumi               

Coordinator: Dr A V Jose, Honorary Professor, GIFT