Abstract

The outbreak of Pandemic Covid 19 had affected the whole country and because of
which Prime Minister declared the lockdown nationally and with it comes the
projection that large loss will be there and workers will be affected, economy will
suffer and poverty will increase. This article will include what are the impacts
which have adversely affected workers and various labour laws because of this
pandemic.

Introduction

Life has been capsized because of this outbreak. Though governments are taking
steps but the outcomes are not very promising. Among all the other reforms
dilution of labour laws are a major bone of contention. Many Indian states, amid
lockdown, have diluted and in some cases done away with majority of the labour
laws in their states. This might sound dystopian at the first glance but it is, as the
state regards, an important measure to attract investment. Let us analysis both
aspects of this move:

Removal of all labour laws curbs the workers basic rights as well as wages. This
also hampers public policy as it will push workers from formal sector to informal
sector. There are many diluting labour laws they are trying to incentivizes
investors. Mostly diluting worker protection laws have failed to attract investment
and increases employment. This also brings down the wage rate. Economy has
been decelerating for everyone. These workers who are in need of government
protection are instead more exposed to uncertainties and vulnerability after
stripping away of their labour rights. On the ground, labour in India was already
exploited. However, diluting labour laws snatches away the jurisdiction protection
they had. The labour law’s provisions have diluted for business. To stabilize the
economy new opportunities regarding investment required to be created. There are
200 state labour laws and 50 central laws but from starting only labour laws have
been criticized because of being not flexible and there are many provisions which
are not easy to understand and many provisions are not been implemented and
because of this only so much exploitation and corruption happens. Government
could have done other things to stabilize the situation.
The present scenario in India is that of crisis and the worst affected are migrant
labourers. Migrant labourers connote to a majority of no-collar and white-collar
workers who have been stranded in their working state and want to go to their
residential state due to lockdown. They want to go back to their residential state
because of the labour laws are already mostly violated in most of the industrial
states of India.

Add to the above situation, the dilution of labour laws might lead to human rights
violation as well as may do little to incentivize economic activities.

CONCLUSION

After discussing the pros and cons of diluting labour law, it can be concluded that
the positive implications of this move will be seen in the near future . However,
one cannot deny the negative implications are very likely to happen at present . In
the game of trade-offs between economy and human rights , one should always try
to create a balance ,even though the times are tough , yet compromising human
rights creates more complications.