Addressing a gathering of labour unions as well as industry and officials, the Prime Minister utilised the platform of the tripartite Indian Labour Conference, the first such meeting after his coming to power past year, to give a message that talks between the three were the only way forward.
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CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat questioned the silence of Prime Minister Modi despite the latest controversies surrounding his ministers and party colleagues. Investment was critical for growth to pick up and employment will rise once investment rises.
Intuc’s Reddy said he got an impression that Jaitley was “willing” to consider some of their demands. He appealed to the unions not to persist with ideas that harmed the nation’s economy. “These scams are eating the vitals of our democracy and our system”, Raja said. He also opposed disinvestment saying the government “was selling family silver to meet the grocer’s bill”.
We are concerned about the labour who is employed, but we are also concerned for the people who are unemployed.
Observing that country can not remain happy if labourers are unhappy, Modi said, they contribute immensely for nation building and businesses can not run properly in absence of cordial relation between workers and employers.
The trade unions, cutting across party equations, are going on a strike with a ten-point charter of demands including those related to labour laws and economic policies of the government.
The Prime Minister said 4.67 crore workers now have a portable Provident Fund Account, through a Universal Account Number, which connects them to an online network.
“Unless there is clarity on reform proposals, investors are not keen to pump in new money”, said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Securities.
Mr Modi said the government would make every effort to modify laws through consensus. “I am confident that we will be able to address the challenges ahead & proceed with reforms with everyone ” s consensus”, Modi said. He said laws need to change with time. “This is a great respect to workers and their unions”, said BMS leader V Upadhyay.
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We are concerned about the health of our labour. It will have facilities for job posting, career counselling, aptitude assessment, job matching, skill courses, training providers and guidance on self-employment and entrepreneurship.
