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Make in India - A Gandhian Approach

The document discusses the "Make in India" initiative and proposes amendments to India's labor laws to support it. It argues that while Make in India aims to boost employment and the economy, the proposed labor law changes favor employers over employees. It advocates applying Mahatma Gandhi's principles of equality between labor and management to protect workers' rights under Make in India. Gandhi viewed laborers as partners rather than subordinates and advocated for arbitration over strikes in disputes. His principles upheld dignity for both classes and could ensure fairness for labor as Make in India progresses.

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Dr. Dharmender Patial
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185 views5 pages

Make in India - A Gandhian Approach

The document discusses the "Make in India" initiative and proposes amendments to India's labor laws to support it. It argues that while Make in India aims to boost employment and the economy, the proposed labor law changes favor employers over employees. It advocates applying Mahatma Gandhi's principles of equality between labor and management to protect workers' rights under Make in India. Gandhi viewed laborers as partners rather than subordinates and advocated for arbitration over strikes in disputes. His principles upheld dignity for both classes and could ensure fairness for labor as Make in India progresses.

Uploaded by

Dr. Dharmender Patial
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MAKE IN INDIA – A GANDHIAN APPROACH

-Bharat Kumar Rayapalam


-Iswarya Moguluru

“My life is my message”


-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi fondly remembered as Mahatma Gandhi by


the entire world has not only been a beacon of hope during the times of freedom
struggle, but also has created a new chapter in the Nation’s history with his arrival
into the Indian political arena. His advent affected and influenced almost all the social
classes of the country. Also his views in the Indian National Congress have proved to
be topics of great historical interest. Of all, the principle of Non-Violence gained vital
significance, and his profound vision and belief in justice inspired not only people in
India but the whole world and further enthused India towards freedom.

Gandhi’s contribution to legal philosophy also is considered to be of


paramount importance. His belief in the reformative theory of justice and his views
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” and “Hate the sin, love the sinner”
are prominently heard of. Apart from the above mentioned, his views towards the
employer-employee relationships and industrial relations are also remarkable as far as
the labour legislations in the country are concerned as the Gandhian principles strive
to strike a balance between the employer and the employee instead of giving an upper
hand to one of them. He believed that the labourers should be treated as partners. But
that does not mean that the opposite party is deprived of its rights. He has put forward
all such principles through the Doctrine of Trusteeship and also put forward his views
regarding the trade unionism.

After many years, we still find prevalence of Mahatma Gandhi’s insightful


principles in many fields. In the present times, one such arena which is in great need
of Gandhian approach is the famous Make in India initiative. As the campaign is
heading towards its accomplishment, the one field that is being failed to be taken note
of, is the employer – employee relationship and the same needs an analytical
approach in conjugation with the Gandhian principles.
The ‘Make in India’ Campaign

‘Make in India’ is an international marketing campaigning slogan that has


been coined and launched by the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra
Modi on 25 September 2014 to attract businesses from across the globe to invest and
manufacture in India. The campaign has been concerted to accomplish the increasing
need for employment opportunities, to strengthen the national economy and
transforming India into a self-reliant country and to give the Indian economy a global
recognition. The esteemed brain child of the Indian Government prominently focuses
on heavy industries and public enterprises while generating employment, empowering
secondary and tertiary sector and utilizing the human resource.

The Make in India initiative focuses on 25 sectors of the economy for job
creation and skill enhancement. Some of these sectors being automobiles, chemicals,
IT, pharmaceuticals, textiles, ports, aviation, leather, tourism and hospitality,
wellness, railways, design manufacturing, renewable energy, mining, bio-technology,
and electronics. The initiative hopes to amplify GDP growth and tax revenue. The
initiative also aims at high quality standards and minimising the impact on the
environment. The initiative further wishes to attract capital and technological
investment in India.

The campaign undeniably assures a great covenant of success and fulfilments


of the above mentioned objectives which would not only take the Nation on a march
towards the economic development due to the promising investments but also helps
the country enhance the skills of its labour class. As we talk about the labour class, it
is of predominant importance to observe that one of the most prominent goals of the
initiative is to multiply the employment opportunities and to create as many jobs as
possible. Besides this, it has to be also observed that the inward flow of various
investors and manufacturers requires a vast number of labourers which would attract
labour legislations into the arena of the present Make in India campaign. Thus, the
birth of Make in India campaign not only promised a lift to the employment
opportunities and the economy as a whole but also demanded few alterations in the
existing labour legislations of the country. As a result, this has given rise to the
following proposed amendments to the existing labour legislations.

Proposed Amendments to Labour Legislations

The NDA govt proposed to amalgamate the 3 labour laws into a single code. The
three laws that come under such proposed integration are the Industrial Disputes Act,
1947, the Trade Unions Act, 1926, and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders)
Act, 1946 and proposed the following changes:

 If staff strength of a company is up to 300, then the firm can fire its
employee(s) without any prior notice
 The proposed law will also make it tougher to form workers unions
 At least 10% of the employees or 100 workers are required for registering a
trade union
 Only employees of an organisation can form unions
 2 outside officials can become members of a union if its an unorganised sector
 If an employee works for the organisation for more than 1 year then he/she
will get a 3 months of notice in case there is a plan for retrenchment
 However, the above mentioned rule will not be applicable for organisations
such as undertaking set up for the construction of buildings, bridges, roads,
canals, dams or for other construction work

Difference between existing and proposed changes in labour law:

 Now, firms with 100 or more workers are required to seek government's
permission for retrenchment under the Industrial Dispute Act

 At present, any 7 or more members of a trade union can apply for registration
of the Trade Union regardless of the size of the firm.

It is of vital importance to observe from the above proposed alterations in the


labour legislations that the said proposals are employer friendly and if not now, in the
near future, might end up causing a paramount trouble to the employees and the
labour class, ensuring an upper hand to the employers. Therefore, it can be put that, in
the pursuit of achieving the ends of the campaign that has been successfully launched,
the working class of the country is going to land up into an unprotected area in the
coming times if the proposed alterations to the labour legislations are made.

In the current scenario, it is of utmost significance to reminisce the Gandhian


principles regarding the working class and his views regarding the Employer-
employee relationship and the industrial relations as a whole which would help us
protect the working class of the country in addition to the other goals that are
dynamically moving forward in order to reach their pinnacle.

Gandhian Principles Regarding industrial Relations and Labour Class

As Gandhi had novel and distinct ideas about political goals, he had his own
ideas about the capital-labour relationship too. He considered the workers as partners,
working for public good, and mill owners as their trustees. He emphasized that any
quarrel between them must be settled through arbitration mutually agreed upon. He
also formulated his own ways of functioning of trade unions. Gandhi’s notion of the
work of the trade union was that they were not merely to agitate for the rights and
organize strikes but had to work for the social advancement of the labourers and other
members of their families at the outset. For this purpose he placed before the labour
organizations schemes of constructive work such as day schools for the education of
their children night classes for the adults, enforcement of prohibition, etc. The
Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association, locally known as Majoor Mahajan, founded
in 1918 by Gandhi himself, distinctly reflected Gandhian thoughts on the problems of
labour, employer-employees’ relations and method of dealing with it.

Mahatma Gandhi’s views on industrial relations are based on some of his


fundamental principles which comprise the core of his philosophy. These principles
are (l) Truth and non-violence (2) Aparigraha i.e. non possession. It is from these
principles Gandhi evolved his concepts of non-co-operation and trusteeship, which
are elementary to his model of industrial relations and trade unionism. Mahatma
Gandhi’s philosophy is based upon the "Sarvodoya" principles of truth, non-violence
and trusteeship, in which class harmony prevails. He considers trade unions as vital
reformist organizations and economic institutions, which must be organized on the
basis of the assumption that capital and labour are not on the warpath but are
supplementary to each other.
Gandhi wrote in Young India, “We seek not to destroy capital or capitalists,
but to regulate the relations between capital and labours......” He further enunciated
“my ideal is that capital and labour should supplement and help each other. They
should be a great family living in unity and harmony capital not only looking to the
material welfare of the labourers but their moral welfare also- capitalists being
trustees of the welfare of the labouring classes under them.” Thus his principles
evidently uplifted the working class to the level of the owner or employer class which
would ensure equality and also favour both the classes of people.

Conclusion

As the ‘Make in India’ initiative marches towards the completion of one year,
it is learnt that the initiative has evidently helped to attract investments and
tremendously improved the business environment in the country. But, there is a big
uproar among the various trade unions and workmen that these proposed amendments
as a part of the ‘Make in India initiative are anti- worker in nature. As per the
Gandhian views regarding the labour relations, neither there should be pro- employer
nor anti-worker laws/ amendments, but the law/amendment has to be preferably made
keeping in mind, the principle of trusteeship. Further, it has to be also observed that
the lawmakers bring about a change in labour legislations without harming the
principle of trusteeship, which is one of the important aspects of Industrial peace,
harmony and growth.

References

 Kripalani, J.B. 1975. Gandhi: His Life and Thought. New Delhi: Publications
Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
 Gandhi, M.K. 1949. An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with
Truth, translated from Gujarati by Mahadev Desai. London: Phoenix Press.
 Nirban Basu, Gandhi, Gandhians And Labour: The Bengal Scenario, 1920–47,
Rivista di Studi Sudasiatici iII, 2008, 7–31
 "Look East, Link West, says PM Modi at Make in India launch". Hindustan
Times. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
 Young India, 1921, Madras.
 auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/make-in-india-attracted-
investments-improved-business-environment-ficci/49111656

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