The 28th session of the Standing Labour Committee held here [New Delhi] to-day [July 18] concluded without any agreement being reached on the question of automation. Representatives of employers and of labour dispersed at the end of the meeting asserting that the session did not impose any commitments on them. At the afternoon meeting of the session, the Union Labour Minister, Mr. Jaisukhlal Hathi, invited spokesmen of both labour and employers to sum up their conclusions. The labour point of view was put forth by Mr. Bagaram Tulpule, who said that labour was definitely against automation in the country which was short of technological and capital resources and with a huge human potential. Exceptions may be made in the cases where there is some kind of “compulsion” but what constitutes a compulsion must be spelt out in great detail.
