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Home / Opinion / Columns / B R Ambedkar laid the foundation for workers’ rights, social security in India

B R Ambedkar laid the

foundation for workers’ rights,
social security in India
Inspired by Ambedkar, the current government has taken steps to improve
the quality of life of workers. For example, the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi
Maan-Dhan Yojna was launched in February 2019 to ensure protection of
unorganised workers in their old age.

Written by Arjun Ram Meghwal | Updated: May 1, 2020 9:36:27 am

The proposed change in work culture through adaptability, e ciency, inclusiveness, opportunity and
universalism will open up more avenues for workers to build New India. (File Photo)

International Labour Day is celebrated on May 1 to honour workers. Labour has an

undeniable role in shaping the nation’s fortune. Since the times immemorial, the
working class has struggled and sacrificed for greater causes — first for
Independence and then building the nation brick by brick. The ongoing fight
against COVID-19 has brought temporary hardship for everyone, including workers.
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has weighed life as being greater than
livelihood and has now provided a blueprint for turning this crisis into opportunity
in the post-corona world. The proposed change in work culture through
adaptability, efficiency, inclusiveness, opportunity and universalism will open up
more avenues for workers to build New India.

Many leaders have been a beacon for workers and B R Ambedkar was one among
them. As the representative of the Depressed Classes in the Round Table
Conference, Ambedkar forcefully pleaded for living wages, decent working
conditions and the freedom of peasants from the clutches of cruel landlords. He
also fought for the removal of social evils that blighted the lives of the
downtrodden.

He went on to form the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in 1936 with a

comprehensive programme to meet the needs and grievances of the landless, poor
tenants, agriculturists, and workers. In the polls held in 1937, the first election
under the newly enacted Government of India Act of 1935, the ILP achieved
spectacular success by winning 15 of the 17 seats it had contested for the Bombay
Legislative Assembly. On September 17, 1937, during the Poona session of the
Bombay Assembly, he introduced a bill to abolish the Khoti system of land tenure in
Konkan. He opposed the introduction of Industrial Disputes Bill, 1937 because it
removed the workers’ right to strike.

His profound knowledge of labour matters was universally acknowledged and

demonstrated during his term as Labour member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council
from 1942 to 1946. When the world order was in flux during World War II,
Ambedkar was guiding Indian labour. The changing economy provided
opportunities for the expansion of industries. While entrepreneurs and managers
could hope for prosperity, labour was not given its due share. Ambedkar piloted
and introduced measures for labour welfare by laying the foundation for the basic
structure for the government’s labour policy. He tackled the knotty problems and
won esteem and respect from employees and employers alike. The Indian Trade
Union (Amendment) Bill, introduced by Ambedkar on November 8, 1943, compelled
the employers to acknowledge trade unions.

On February 8, 1944, in the legislative assembly during the debate on the Lifting of
Ban on Employment of Women on Underground Work in Coal Mines, Ambedkar
said: “It is for the first time that I think in any industry the principle has been
established of equal pay for equal work irrespective of the sex.” It was a historic
moment. Through the Mines Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill 1943, he
empowered women workers with maternity benefits.

Addressing the Indian Labour Conference held in New Delhi on November 26, 1945,
Ambedkar emphasised the urgent need to bring progressive labour welfare
legislation: “Labour may well say that the fact that the British took 100 years to
have a proper code of labour legislation is no argument that we should also in India
take 100 years. History is not always an example. More often it is a warning.”

Ambedkar did not accept the Marxist position that the abolition of private property
would bring an end to poverty and suffering. In Buddha or Karl Marx, he writes:
“Can the Communists say that in achieving their valuable end they have not
destroyed other valuable ends? They have destroyed private property. Assuming
that this is a valuable end, can the Communists say that they have not destroyed
other valuable end in the process of achieving it? How many people have they
killed for achieving their end? Has human life no value? Could they not have taken
property without taking the life of the owner?”

Inspired by Ambedkar, the current government has taken steps to improve the
quality of life of workers. For example, the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan
Yojna was launched in February 2019 to ensure protection of unorganised workers
in their old age. Through technological interventions like Shram Suvidha Portal,
transparency and accountability are ensured in the enforcement of labour law. The
government is working to simplify, amalgamate and rationalise the provisions of
the existing central labour laws into four labour codes — Labour Code on Wages, on
Industrial Relations, on Social Security & Welfare and on Occupational Safety,
Health & Working Conditions.

In the extraordinary circumstances brought on by the COVID pandemic, the labour

fraternity deserves a special salute. During his Mann ki Baat broadcast on March
29, the PM apologised for the inconvenience: “I extend a heartfelt apology to all
countrymen. And I strongly feel from the core of my heart that you will forgive me
— since certain decisions had to be taken, resulting in myriad hardships for you.
And when it comes to my underprivileged brothers and sisters, they must be
wondering on the kind of Prime Minister they have, who has pushed them to the
brink! My wholehearted apologies, especially to them.” PM Modi has championed
the fight against the pandemic and been acclaimed globally. Much of the credit for
this goes to the perseverance of the labour fraternity.

As we recall the innumerable contribution of the countless labourers in nation-

building, with an ever-increasing spirit of Shramev Jayate, we must remember the
contributions of Ambedkar.

This article was first published in the print by the title ‘Labour’s leader’. The
writer is Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Heavy Industries and
Public Enterprises. He is the Lok Sabha MP for Bikaner
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