Amidst the micro and macro-economic crisis of the last five years, the Union government has aggressively pushed the agenda of labour law reforms – purportedly to simplify India’s “complex” labour legislations, improve the business environment, and augment growth and employment. These changes, driven primarily by the business fraternity, have been aimed at improving India’s ranking in the “Ease of Doing Business” index and Foreign Direct Investment flows. However, workers and trade unions have called these reforms anti-working class, pushing India back to the British era when slavery was a norm.
It is ironic that while there was an outpouring of national sympathy from state and industry for migrant workers during the Covid-19 lockdown, both have turned their backs on the workforce by backing appalling anti-work legislation. In the history of independent India,…