I am happy to be with all of you at the 36th Session of the Indian Labour Conference.

Over the years, the Indian Labour Conference has developed into a useful institutional platform for discussing various issues of concern to labour with a view to arriving at a consensus to redress its genuine grievances. The active participation of the agencies of the Central and State Governments, various labour organizations and employer associations also makes it an ideal body for a frank exchange of views on labour issues, within the broader context of the nation’s developmental policies and priorities.

Friends, this conference is being held on a very significant day. Today is Ambedkar Jayanti. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar is remembered not only for his invaluable contribution to the making of the Indian Constitution, but also for his long and abiding association with the labour movement. Before Independence, he had chaired four sessions of the Tripartite Labour Conference. He was also the first Union Labour Minister after Independence. He has taught us that political freedom is incomplete without social justice and economic justice for all.

Labour is the source of all wealth and all the life-sustaining activity on earth. If we just cast a glance around us, we find that anything that is not a work of Mother Nature, is the work of human labour. Indeed, to work is itself the essential attribute of human nature. Our ancient seers have taught us:

Yogah karmasu kaushalam

(Work done with skill and concentration is Yoga)

Since labour takes care of all the needs of society, it is the duty of every civilized society to take care of the needs of labour. Over 36 crore people constitute our country’s labour force. Of them, only about 3 crore are in the organized sector, the rest are all in the unorganized sector, including in agriculture. If only we can ensure their welfare, enrich their skills, and improve their capabilities, they can make an immense contribution to our mission of nation-building. It is, therefore, my firm conviction that we must look upon our labour force as a source of strength — and never as a liability.

I would like to assure and reassure all of you that my Government is fully committed to the welfare, development, and dignity of labour in India.

I will probably be stating the obvious if I say that the labour movement, understood in the traditional sense of the trade union movement, is today standing at a crossroads in history. At no point in the past has it experienced such intense pressure, both from within and without, to re-examine its role and redefine its stand on various issues concerning labour, employment, and the economy.

We are living in an era of sweeping social and economic changes around the world. The past couple of decades have witnessed the collapse of many walls and the demolition of many dogmas. Never before has the awesome power of technology and trade to transform economic activities within and between nations been as manifest as now. No section of society, not even the labour movement, can remain untouched by the effects of these changes.

In today’s increasingly inter-dependent and rapidly integrating world, every nation is required to respond to the imperatives of liberalization and globalization. We in India, too, have devised our own sovereign response in the form of economic reforms, based on our own understanding of our problems and prospects.

Our Government is committed to broadening, deepening, and accelerating the scope of internal reforms to increase the prosperity of all Indians, especially the poorest and most deprived. At the same time, we are following a cautious and carefully calibrated policy towards globalization, so that we can best protect and promote our national interests, including the interests of our kisans and our mazdoors.

Indeed, protection and promotion of the interests of labour is an integral part of our philosophy of economic reforms. We in India have never believed that there can be any inherent antagonism between labour, capital, management, society, and the State. All these are tied to each other by the bonds of harmony and complementarity, and not of contradiction and conflict.

I, therefore, earnestly urge the trade unions to adopt a positive and supportive attitude towards the programmeme of economic reforms. We would like you to be partners in the reform process. If there are any shortcomings in this process, you are most welcome to bring them to our attention. We value your suggestions and constructive criticism, because all of us are wedded to the interests of the country and the common man.

More employment, and more productive employment, has been the goal that we have set for our strategy of economic reforms. We have resolved to create one crore additional employment opportunities each year. We have initiated many policies and programmemes to achieve this ambitious goal through speedier and more balanced economic growth.

In the last nine years, while implementing economic reforms in India under different governments at the Centre, many decisions have been taken to speed up economic growth through de-licensing, de-regulation, and de-control. All of us have been learning useful lessons as we go along. One important lesson of the past decade is that changes in labour laws have not kept pace with changes in the rest of the economy. There is a growing belief that the nation cannot reap the full benefits of economic reforms unless we reform both the labour laws and the administrative machinery that implements them.

Experience of the past five decades has shown that the existing laws have contributed much to the welfare of the organized labour in India. But they have proved to be totally inadequate in doing the same for the unorganized labour. We have also seen that legislative and administrative rigidities have often become hurdles in the path of new investments, without which faster growth is not possible.

We are today seeing the emergence of a paradoxical situation in India. Ours is a labour-abundant economy. Yet, new industrial investment is showing a marked preference for projects that depend the least on labour.

The rate of growth of labour force at 2.5 percent has been higher than the rate of growth of the population. It means that a large labour force, which is either unskilled or at best semi-skilled is entering the market without being sure of the prospects of stable and durable employment in the market. As a matter of fact, the capacity of both the public sector and the organised private sector to create fresh industrial employment is very small compared to the needs of our society.

This is a cause for serious concern.

There is also the big challenge of how to revive thousands of sick industrial units all over the country — in the large, medium, and small-scale sectors. Vast productive resources worth tens of thousands of crores are lying idle in these units, at a time when we cannot afford to waste even a single investible rupee. All of us know that there are many reasons for industrial sickness, including the greed and incompetence of many private managements. However, we cannot ignore the stark fact that improper employment planning and inflexibility in labour deployment in the face of changing market conditions is also one of them.

It has, therefore, become critically necessary that we create a new policy and legislative climate conducive to new investments in all sectors of the economy — but especially in small industries and services. Both these sectors have an enormous potential to generate productive employment. Their capacity to expand and enrich our export basket is also huge, and largely untapped.

Change, urgent change, radical change is the need of the hour. We need it to make the Indian economy and Indian industry domestically vibrant and globally competitive.

I want to make it clear that change does not mean shrinkage of what the organized labour has already gained through decades of hard struggle. No. Rather, it means spreading more and more of those benefits to the unorganized sector, in a framework that attracts greater investment and creates still greater employment.

One of the first decisions of our Government in its second stint in office was to constitute the Second National Labour Commission in October 1999. The new commission will update the laws for the organized labour, create an umbrella legislation for the welfare of the unorganized labour, and recommend a comprehensive plan for enriching the skills and productivity of the entire labour force.

I appeal to all sections of the organized and unorganized labour, as also employers, to actively contribute to the Commission’s work. Let there be an intense debate on all the pertinent issues. But let us keep the debate free from partisan considerations. It should be guided solely by the considerations of faster and more-balanced economic growth, sustained employment generation, and welfare of labour as well as society.

I would like to assure all of you on this occasion that the problems of the employees of the Central Public Sector Undertakings would be satisfactorily resolved in our ongoing efforts to restructure and revive the PSUs. For this purpose, last week, I have reconstituted the Group of Ministers, which would make recommendations on wage-related matters and also on how best to safeguard the interests of the workers employed in sick PSUs.

The revolution in Information Technology and the emerging knowledge-based economy have created a great need for continuous worker education. Therefore, the Government is actively considering upgradation of the National Labour Institute and the Central Board for Workers’ Education into institutions of excellence.

Farm workers constitute a vast majority of our workforce is in the unorganised sector. They are also one of the poorest and most neglected sections of our society. Since they belong mostly to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes, we have an obligation to ensure social justice for them through economic justice. Discussions have been going on for a very long time to enact a legislation for minimum wages, protection in service conditions, and social security to them. It is regrettable that we have not been able to reach a consensus on this vital subject so far. I urge the Ministry of Labour and its counterparts in the States to resolve the differences on this matter and pave the way for introduction of the Agricultural Workers’ Bill as early as possible.

I am happy that in India we have a national consensus on the issues relating to labour standards and trade. This consensus guided our stand at the Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization held at Seattle. India is all for promotion of fair labour standards, but within the ILO framework. ILO is best suited for this purpose, and not the WTO.

Friends, the new century that has just begun beckons us to look at issues concerning labour with a new mindset. We have no doubt many challenges from the past to overcome. But let us not overlook the many more opportunities that have opened up to advance the cause of labour. With cooperation, collective vision and, above all, hard and disciplined work, we can seize these opportunities for creating prosperity for the nation and happiness for all.

Thank you.