Ripping Apart The Fabric Of The Nation
“Watching Mahabharat, eh?” Lulu, my parrot, flew in and landed on the chair next to me. Just in case you do not know, parrots have a deep interest in Mahabharat. And while I have been at home, thanks to the Lock-down, Lulu, my parrot, is having a great time flying all over the country.
“Yes Lulu.” I picked up the remote and lowered the volume.
“Which Mahabharat character does Yogi Adityanath remind you of? He has suspended all labour laws from operation.” That was a googly to me.
“Hmmm….. The Chief Minister of UP? Leave him alone, Lulu. But if you insist, Dushyasana I would say. The Kaurav prince who tried to disrobe Draupadi and dragged her by her hair.”
“Aw… Aw! That’s so apt!! And you have killed two birds with one stone – Dushyasana also means bad governance. Yogi’s steps have been followed by five or six states. So, we have a team of Dushyasanas.”
“Team? Perhaps ‘gang’ is a better word. And labour, particularly the migrants do have something in common with Draupadi. They have been denuded of all protection.”
“And trade unions, are watching it helplessly, gnawing their teeth, but they can’t do much except shouting against these Dushyasanas.”
“This is what the neoliberal policies have delivered to us, and the situation is only aggravated by the Covid pandemic. I wonder what made Yogi Adityanath take such drastic measures.”
“He wants to invite Capital to his state. Labour and Capital are competing interests and those in power wish away competing interests. It is a big pain to manage them.”
“That’s interesting…..”
Lulu cut me short. “Let me read this out to you.” He picked up a book. “Freedom of the kind championed by neo-liberals means freedom from competing interests. It means freedom from the demands of social justice, from collective bargaining…. It means, in sum, freedom from democracy.”
“Wow! Who is the author? Which book are you reading?”
“And you must listen to what he says further: ‘The freedom of the elite from democratic restraint limits other people’s freedom from hunger, poverty, and brutal conditions of employment.’”
“So true. So apt for the situation we are in today.”
“That’s George Monbiot in his book ‘How Did We Get Into This Mess?’”
“So, the industrialists can make employees work for twelve hours and at the ‘single rate’”
“Yes, and if he quits, he does not get gratuity which he may have otherwise got.”
“Why?”
“Because the Gratuity Act is also consigned to the Ganges by Yogi.”
“What are the intellectuals doing? How can they allow such a rip off to happen?”
“Trust intellectuals to hold meetings to discuss Yogi’s ordinance. Some of them have liked this idea of resetting labour relations.
“Do you know what George Orwell said?”
“No”
“Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them!”
“Do you remember what happened in Ahmedabad Textile strike? The situation arose out of plague epidemic when many workers left the city. The prices soared high as normalcy returned but not the wages. So, he went on ‘Satyagraha’ or fast unto death. He stood for the workers and got them 35% increase in wages.”
“Ha, ha. He stood against the Mill Owners, Sarabhais, who were his friends. But the Mahatma supported the workers.”
“No such luck for the workers in Uttar Pradesh. The man on the opposite side is ripping apart the fabric of the nation, and he is not a Mahatma, he is Yogi!” Lulu said and nibbled at chillies.
Vivek S Patwardhan
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
Feature Pic Courtesy Flickr.com
I find many from HR fraternity who think this is welcome..that ‘ productivity’ will increase.Perhaps they need to have a Lulu at home too.
So very true anf a ridiculous move by UP government. Show me one law because of which industry has not been really able to do whst it wants to do from a labour law perspective. On the other hand laws have been used to exploit workmen. Contract labour, fixed term employment etc are examples of such exploitation. Have real wages gone up? And will these attract investments into UP? These are good to hide behind. The real issues are not these.
It looks to me that there is no application of mind,when it comes to U.P. state n may be some other states.
Put yourself in other persons shoes n think what one is doing.
There are ways and ways of attracting industries. Maharashtra did it in 70’s n 80’s.without taking steps that U.P. has taken.
However, for contract labour, in almost all states labourers work for 12 hours n get paid minimum wages.
Can this order not be challenged in High court or Supreme court?
Kudos Vivek for addressing the Subject of recent Labour ‘Reforms’ announcement by few states This topic has been a favourite agenda of many debates over decades. Interestingly, many Economists too have been lamenting the need for reform of labour laws..including few Reowned ones whose understanding of ground level issues of India grew after they migrated from India Frankly, few experts ever dwelled on what and how the reform be done. In their eagerness to make their state the preferred
Destination – the pendulum has swung to an extreme As you rightly point out that this suspension of Labour Laws is not the panacea to attract investment. One of these states has to seriously introspect why they are not able to attract investments ???
I am glad to note that few roll backs on these announcements have begun even before they have got
the consent from Centre I wish better sense prevails
and these announcements are frozen before it is implemented
Very apt representation sir. Could not agree moreover your thoughts. Former president of USA Franklin D. Roosevelt has very wisely quoted which is very prompt in the current labour legislation’s situation, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little”. I am afraid in this manner government is monopolizing the labours under the so-called Jagran of Reform. It is pretty much unfortunate but no one is having better choice rather than waiting for another “Mahatma” to take their neutral side.
These times, everyone wants to grab a larger share of the pie. No one wishes to trade the middle path!The swings of the pendulum are extreme!
Sir,Very aptly articulated and giving a sense of illogical and irrational decision making and highhandedness.