By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:All the four new labour laws brought by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre have come in the interest of the workers. Ensuring minimum wages in both the organised and unorganised sectors, ensuring safety of workers at the workplace, eliminating the existing discrimination against women and ensuring equal work opportunities for them, and making social security for workers such as provident fund, health security and mandatory registration have come in the new Labour Code. The earlier British-derived labour laws have been removed, and now four simple laws have been brought in place of 29 complex laws.
While workers and trade unions across the country are welcoming it, a handful of so-called activist trade unions are opposing it. Those who have been making their living by playing politics in the name of workers for a long time are today harassing the common people by calling for a Bharat Bandh to protest against the new four labour codes. It is unfortunate that the two opposition parties in Odisha, BJD and Congress, are supporting them. People in Odisha have rejected this Bharat Bandh, said state BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal.
Shri Biswal said that the new labour code is not just a change in policy but a strong commitment to social justice for workers, creation of new jobs for workers and building a self-reliant India. Due to the old law, workers in the unorganized sector were deprived of social security and benefits. Similarly, there was no provision in the old law for workers working in online apps. There were many restrictions for women in the old law, which have been removed in this new law. Similarly, the rights of unorganized sector and online app workers have also been ensured in the new law. The opposition of political parties like BJD and Congress to such appropriate reforms proves their political bankruptcy.
It is unfortunate that those who were in power for decades and used workers only as political toolkits are opposing good laws today. When the political parties of the organizations protesting on the streets today were in power in West Bengal, thousands of workshops were closed for their politics in West Bengal. The workers lost everything, but those organizations enjoyed power by becoming leaders and becoming MLAs and MPs. Those organizations do not have the interests of the workers but their main objective is to protect their political interests, said Shri Biswal.
