The Hindu Business Line : ILO: Rigid quota norms may discourage enterprises

New Delhi May 12 The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said that in countries like India that rely largely on rigid and strict requirements such as quotas, enterprises may have limited incentives to establish formal human resource management practices.

"The reduced risk of litigation on the basis of unfair employment leads employers to use greater discretion in the type of measures the may decide to implement.

"On the other hand, a strict requirement to meet certain quotas may discourage the development of formal testing procedures for job applicants," the ILO said in its latest report `Equality at Work: Tackling the Challenges'.

The report also focused on caste-based discrimination and its ramifications on employment in India.

"Caste-based discrimination confines Dalits to occupations associated with their caste, often involving the most menial tasks... They are thus excluded from a wide range of work opportunities in the area of production, processing or sale of food items, domestic work and the provision of certain services in the private and public sectors," the report observed.

The report, however, appreciated the work done in India and South Africa with regard to the initiatives taken for childcare, especially for children under three-years-old, where there have been a lot of positives as compared to many other countries.

Citing an example, of mobile crèches on construction sites that have been created to cater for the children of migrant construction workers, the report says that the situation can be reversed.

mobile crèches

"At present the system of mobile crèches operates through a network of 450 day care centres, located on building sites and slum clusters in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune reaching out around 6 lakh children.

"In South Africa also, there is an arrangement where organisations representing street vendors has placed construction of water and childcare facilities. Such models need to be replicated to reverse the situation," the report observed.

The ILO also put out a word of caution about women not benefiting under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA).

``It is premature to draw any conclusions about the impact of the scheme (NREGA) on poverty and gender equality, but concerns have been voiced about possible tensions within families over the selection of the member to be given the job and about women being left out,'' it said.

Labour sector reforms

But, overall, the ILO commended the Indian authorities for bringing reforms in the labour sector.

``India does a lot of work to ensure proper conditions in the work place for all and more work will be done,'' the report observed.

The report also states that globally from traditional forms of discrimination -- sex, race or religion - today we are seeing newer forms emerge based on age, sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS status and disability.

"The global picture of the struggle to overcome discrimination shows a mixture of major advances and failures," the ILO said, citing progress since its first edition issued four years ago.

It also proposes an action plan. The report states that promoting of gender equality through more integrated and better-coordinated global action, mainstreaming non-discrimination and equality into decent work country programmes specific to country needs need to be implemented.

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