Budget doesn’t redress job losses due to demonetisation: RSS-affiliated union

Virjesh Upadhyay.

Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the RSS-affiliated trade union, has sharply criticised the Union Budget 2017-18 for failing to come to the aid of crores of workers in the unorganised sector who lost their jobs due to demonetisation.

In a missive to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, BMS secretary general Virjesh Upadhyay questioned the Centre’s disinvestment plans for public sector firms and the “astonishing” decision to abolish the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. He also opined that the Budget was an inappropriate occasion to announce labour law reforms.

“The poor and the labourer class supported the Centre’s historic decision to demonetise high value currency notes and the same people had to bear the pain and adverse effects of the move… around 2.5 lakh informal sector units shut down and their workers lost their jobs,” he said.

“The real estate sector that was largely thriving on black money has been deeply affected, because of which crores of workers have lost their livelihoods. With lakhs of crores of currency coming to the banks, it was being hoped that the government would give some relief to those rendered jobless and provide more funds for social security and poverty alleviation schemes,” he added, terming the absence of such measures in the Budget as disappointing.

‘Workers’ benefits cut’

The BMS also said the plan to raise more than ₹70,000 crore through divestment of stakes in public sector firms and list entities such as IRCTC on the stock exchanges revealed the government’s intent to revive the process of selling off such public sector enterprises.

Urging the government to abandon such policies, the union cited past instances such as the sale of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited to the Tata group and the strategic sale of Balco. “These companies didn’t progress after their sale… and their employees’ plight is well-known,” Mr. Upadhyay said.

The union also criticised the reference to labour law reforms in the Budget speech and said it was not a relevant forum to discuss such changes.

“In the name of labour law reforms, rights and benefits of workers are being cut… There have been strikes and agitations against this in the country,” the BMS official said.

The BMS also cautioned the government against following the ‘Rajasthan model’ of labour law reforms, as its impact on industry in the State had been different from the growth that had been envisaged by the State government at the time of amending the labour laws.