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Two statements, one of which was from Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman S.N. Subramanian’s. In this he said that for every employee there should be 90 hours of weekly work including Sundays and secondly for Narayan Murthy of Infosys, in which he said that it should be 70 hours. His statements have shaken the Indian political-economic scenario, showing the reluctance of corporates to create jobs even after 44 labor laws have been almost abolished. The four labor codes replacing these laws are useless.
Subramanian says everyone should work 15 hours a day, which is almost double Chicago’s accepted eight-hour model. In other words, they must work two consecutive shifts to get one payment. Murthy has envisioned a 10-hour daily schedule. He says that the nation will become great only at the cost of the lives and hard work of the youth.
Both these statements are condemnable, because they take away the rights of people to eight hours of sleep and eight hours of personal and social prosperity. It also exposes the government’s complicity or its compulsions to bow to the whims of corporates who care about profits but not the welfare of workers.
It is surprising that no one from the government retaliates to silence the pampered corporate heads. How can both ignore the workers in a democracy? For years, workers have been facing long hours of work, low wages and difficult working conditions. They are forced to work day and night, even from their homes. Companies also use their home space for office work, disturbing their home peace. But companies never pay them for using home space, electricity or other facilities. Some companies even install cameras to monitor their homes, violating their privacy.
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It reveals a lot. Not only the dire working conditions but also the lack of vacancies in the country when in reality these are jobs. India is losing jobs across all sectors, with workers being forced to accept inhumane conditions to survive. The statements of Murthy and Subramanian also highlight corporate indifference towards employment generation. They are trying to hide that where they have to double the number of employees, they are forcing the workers to do double the work.
This means that the same number of people are not getting employment. The Labor Ministry should have taken suo motu cognizance to prosecute Murthy and Subramanian as they have created such an unhealthy situation due to which not only jobs are being lost but essential people are also becoming unwanted.
< p style="text-align: justify;">This is a step against the country and the government, which wants to create more and more jobs to improve social and economic conditions. This is a real step to negate the process of Budget 2024, based on nine foundational pillars – agriculture, employment, inclusive growth, manufacturing and services, urban growth, energy, infrastructure, innovation/research and development, and next generation reforms. A comprehensive strategy has been unveiled.
Former badminton star Jwala Gutta has criticized L&T Chairman Subramanian’s comment that he wants his employees to work even on Sundays. Subramanian’s comment immediately went viral, with Gutta saying it was sad that people were not taking mental health and relaxation seriously.
Gutta is right. How can a company owner speak against the interest of the nation? Ever since Manmohan Singh became the Finance Minister by starting liberalization and globalization, jobs in the country are decreasing. The unemployment rate had reached 6.9 percent in 1991 itself.
A new study from the International Labor Organization (ILO) has just confirmed what we already suspected. India’s remarkable growth in the 1990s, widely considered the reform years, was largely accompanied by unemployment. Over that period, India’s employment rate grew more slowly than the rate of the economy.
Do Murthy and Subramanian want the country to remain stuck in an environment of continuous unemployment? It appears that the two, representing many others like them, want to disrupt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s impending full budget, which aims to bring India’s economic growth in FY2026 to 6.3% from the expected 6.3% in FY25. percent to 7 percent, as envisaged in the report of SBI Mutual Fund. The budget is expected to bring changes in fiscal and monetary policy to boost demand and address the country’s economic challenges. Are companies trying to derail this process?
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Government will have to take steps carefully. It is facing serious financial crisis. Borrowing is increasing. This could have been avoided. On the other hand, the government could have postponed the demolition and reconstruction of railway stations, office buildings etc. to save unnecessary expenditure every year. Instead, it could have repaired the 150-year-old sturdy railway stations. This is leading to serious inflation, which is another indirect burden on the government’s own activities. According to the Economic Policy Institute, corporate profits were a major factor in the initial risk, increasing inflation.
In the non-finance corporate sector, corporate profits accounted for more than half of price growth between 2020 and 2021. Even in the second quarter of 2024, corporate profits are about a third of the increase in price levels from the end of 2019. Over the last four years, corporate profits have grown 3.5 times faster than GDP growth. However, employee salaries have not increased at the same rate as inflation. The poor have had to struggle to survive due to the neglect of corporate profits. Basic needs like housing, clean water, nutritious food and healthcare are out of reach for many people. Families are becoming increasingly dependent on credit to meet essential needs. Jobs and wealth are also being looted through devious methods like National Green Tribunal and Grade Response (Pollution)-Grape-Action Plan, such as forced scrapping of cars and tractors benefitting big companies.
The government should intervene in these issues and correct the system. Every price increase is a burden on government finances, because the government is also the biggest consumer. This is also an opportunity to ask corporates to follow basic labor rules and stop arbitrary layoffs, mostly through forced resignations. A little strictness can fix many scenarios and remove blame from the official system.
This can help the government create an attractive political face and gain more popularity. With a small push, the government can not only correct the employment scenario but also stop the extraordinary profits of companies. This will increase the popularity rating and the opposition will not get a chance to criticize.
(Note- The views given above are the personal views of the author. It is not necessary that ABP News Group agrees with it. The author alone is responsible for all claims or objections related to this article.)
