Social security back in focus / Dec 12, 2005 / Central Chronicle
From Indiapensions
Watch Tower: Social security back in focus
Textiles is a labour-intensive industry even in this age of computer driven operations. It has huge employment potential, says M Rama Rao, (Syndicate Features)
It is very difficult to find fault even for the harshest critic of the present government with latest cabinet decision vis-à-vis social sector. If at all, if some one were to find fault with the government it was that why no one in authority had so far dared to be innovative even more than a decade after the country embarked on economic reforms.
Social sector has always been on the low end and is known to be the first victim of any belt tightening. It did not find a place on the radar of those who thought till they were shown the exit door that India was shining because of them. In fact, these champions of India shining did not hesitate to reduce the interest rate from 12 to nine per cent on a time tested social security net for the workers in the organised sector.
To what extent the decision to earmark 75 per cent of the disinvestment proceeds for social sector will clear the hurdles in the way of offloading government equity in public sector companies is too early to say. But it is certainly going to push the critics of disinvestment on the back foot since it can be no body's claim that the social sector is flush with funds.
Left parties, who support the government, are often seen as the main stumbling block for reforms. This is a very uncharitable comment because the Left has always been willing to adapt to and champion change despite the impression it gives of being dogmatic. The Left parties' track record in the states they are in office is not unimpressive. But the problem with the Left is they cover their discomfiture and happiness under an ideological label because unlike the Right, they don't want to accept everything from overseas unless it is indigenised.
Take disinvestment. They are not opposed to disinvestment per se. They have only been objecting to the hitherto followed policy of putting the 'Navartnas' on the block. In so many words, their contention is that by selling profit making companies to the private sector whose sole concern is healthy bottom-line, government will be doing grave injustice to its own cause.
An influential section of the Congress and the UPA share this perception, notwithstanding their occasional hiccups in their relations with the Left Front. This is reflected in a substantial measure in the Cabinet decision to take off companies like BHEL from the off-loading list.
A related decision, which will also be widely welcomed, is to use of 25 per cent of disinvestment proceeds for reviving sick public sector companies. Critics of the public sector will do well to remember that a significant percentage of sick companies in the government portfolio were originally in the private sector.
The government had stepped in to take closed companies in the larger interests of workers. It was called nationalisation. And the Left celebrated 'the victory' and renewed its solidarity with the workers. Now the same Left is willing to let these sick companies in the government portfolio to be put on the disinvestment route. The irony is difficult to miss. May be. Then, it also shows that the Left is not as rigid as it is made out to be.
Why not many 'taken over' companies managed a turn around is a different story. A case in point is the National Textile Corporation (NTC) Mills. Having studied the NTC case, I can say this much. NTC may be standing testimony to Indian socialism. But workers aren't to be blamed. Readers may be surprised to know that the mill unions, particularly in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, encouraged workers to accept whatever VRS package was on offer.
The 'left over' workers chipped in with their best while their bosses and textile ministry in Delhi preferred to make NTC restructuring a PUC - paper under consideration for close to two decades. In fact the workers did the unthinkable. They approached the Power Looms, whose mushrooming sounded the death knell to NTC in a manner of speaking, for job works. Just to keep themselves engaged. In the process, the workers and their leaders proved that no worker likes to get an idle wage.
The critics of the workers and by extension of the Left, since they alone appear to be overtly concerned about the working class, will do well to appreciate this reality. The Champions of economic reform too.
A slight digression will be in order at this point. At the time of Independence, our country was Asia's largest exporter of textiles. Today, our neighbours are overshadowing us in the international market. Some of our enterprising textile magnets have set shop in places like Dhaka and far away Manila or Bangkok to cash in on the local advantages to cater to the global demand.
This is a brain drain of different kind. It may be time to bring these brains back home to make them help India take advantage of the changed global scene with the death of multi-fibre agreement. Textiles is a labour-intensive industry even in this age of computer driven operations. It has huge employment potential. While tapping this, an effort also should be made to regain the jobs that were driven out of the organized textile sector by misplaced political zeal.
Economic reform should not mean, as it appears to have become, the privilege for the management to hire and fire workers. It also should not degenerate into a call to align social security nets like Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to market conditions. The focus of reform should be " to take stock of our labour laws and see how best we can in fact serve the interests of our working people, especially the vast mass of low skilled, unemployed youth....", as observed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his inaugural address to the Indian Labour Conference held in Delhi.
Sustained economic growth and development are the ultimate security for the workers in organised and unorganised sectors alike. Growth creates jobs directly and indirectly as our experience of the past decades shows. The only caveat is that the worker has to keep upgrading his skills. Gone are the days when a person joins an enterprise to remain stagnated in the same work profile till the day of superannuation.
Again as our experience in different sectors of the economy, in addition to the NTC case study cited above, shows workers and their leaders are unwilling to learn and adapt to the changing demands. If there are impediments to investment and if the infrastructure remains a big bottleneck yet, the magic wand for change lies not elsewhere, not with the workers.
Yes, some of our labour laws have come to hurt the workers' interest. These laws belong to a bygone period; quite often these are a legacy of the colonial era as well. Workers and trade unions are not opposed to new laws. What all they want are laws that ensure safety at the work place, cater to their basic needs, offer a decent pay and provide a growth profile rather than lead to loss of job. Flexibility rather than rigidity in work environment is badly needed necessity at the shop floor level. Unfortunately, our laws and our managements have become hostage to schedules and systems.
The Government and the lawmakers should address the issue. Instead of blaming the working class for the ills afflicting the Indian economy on its forward march!
