Tuesday saw Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurating the 44th session of the Indian Labour Conference. In his speech he mentioned issues where the Government was mulling amendments and change in the future. Among them was the Factories Act 1948 and issues on women labour and migrant workers.
The PM said that his Government, committed to strengthening labour laws, was in the process of amending the Factories Act, 1948. “The need for amending the Factories Act has been felt because of a number of developments since 1987 when the Act was last amended. These include concerns arising out of disasters such as the Bhopal gas tragedy, especially those relating to industrial disaster mitigation, rehabilitation and compensation for industrial workers and other affected persons. Amendments to the Act have also been necessitated to facilitate our ratification of several ILO Conventions,” he said. On women labour, Dr Singh felt that it was one of the most underutilised resources in the country. “Female labour force participation rates are extremely low in our country and have remained more or less constant over the past decades. In order to bring more women into the work force, it is necessary to understand the constraints that they face in balancing their family and work responsibilities”.
The PM said there was need to make provision for part-time work for women which would have the same characteristics as full-time employment. “If this requires legislative changes, we should be prepared to do so and begin working on a blueprint for making this a reality,” he said.
The camera in the photograph captures one such image in Etah, Uttar Pradesh – of women labourers who have the tough role of juggling household and farm work.
