The Hindu Business Line : `Radical labour reforms difficult in democratic India'

THE former Prime Minister, Mr Chandra Shekhar, has pulled up industry for comparing the reforms process in India with that of China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Addressing members of the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce (MCC) here on Sunday, Mr Chandra Shekhar said the ground realities in India could not be overlooked while the reforms process was being implemented. This was especially true with regard to reforms in the existing labour laws, he said, adding that changes in labour laws can only follow "strong decision-making ability at the highest level."

"I am not saying that that should be no to changes in the existing labour laws. However, making the necessary changes is not going to be easy since no decision in this regard has been taken in the last 50 years," he said, adding that making changes in labour laws is not going to be easy in a situation where jobs were becoming scarce.

According to him, in a vibrant and functional democracy such as India, it would be difficult for any government to push labour reforms without the mandate of those affected. As such, successful governments at the Centre have chosen to follow the "policy of appeasement."

Mr Chandra Shekhar criticised the Centre for standing guarantor in respect of international loans taken by different States. "If States continue to borrow the way they are and things go as they are, within the next five years the nation will find it difficult to generate any money for development work," he said. And, for a country as big as India, development cannot take place on the basis of foreign aid alone.

The former Prime Minister cautioned that if the issue of the development of the nation was not appropriately addressed, it could lead to civil unrest in the long run.

Earlier, in his address, the President of MCC, Mr K.B. Agarwala, said labour laws should be "rationalised and made flexible" and wages should be "linked to productivity." Reforms, he said, have propped up "only sectoral growth and many vital sectors of the economy have been left out."

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