Ease of doing business in India is
getting lots of attention of Indian policy makers. Whether it is the
passing of the Insolvency
And Bankruptcy Code, 2016 by the Parliament of India or
pushing of the Digital
India project by Indian government, businesses are going
to be benefited by these exercises.
Indian government is also
encouraging submission of online applications and licence requests
and is working in the direction of launching a single platform for
these purposes. This would not only reduce the number of applications
an individual or company would be required to make to Indian
government but would also help entrepreneurs in establishing their
business in a trouble free manner.
Taking cue from this
situation, over 800 companies have submitted
a petition to the Ministry of Labour, requesting to make all the
labour law compliances paperless , a move that they believe will help
arrest the depletion of natural resources and improve ease of doing
business. The petition appeals to the government to move all
employers and employees' mandatory filing online over the next 24
months as "mandatory paper filing has neither improved the
condition of our labour nor ensured better enforcement".
Compliance with labour
laws requires corporates to use 500 crore sheets of paper or 6 lakh
trees every year. Besides the environmental destruction, the lack of
online submissions creates a huge administrative load for employers.
Meanwhile Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley has said on Thursday that union government will
pursue any amendment on labour laws only after unanimity among all
the stake holders and agreed that the issue of minimum wages has to
be given serious thought. The government has also unveiled labour
reforms to make rules simpler and employee-friendly. It also seeks to
do away with arbitrary inspections at factories, reduce paperwork and
make India more investor-friendly.
We at Perry4Law
Organisation (P4LO) believe that the proposed online
labour law compliance system is just a single step in the direction
of labour reforms in India. We need a holistic and techno legal
policy to bring true labour reforms in India. For instance, as per a
recent amendment in France's labour law, the nation's government has
made it illegal for employers to send out work-related e-mails after
typical working hours. The amendment has bestowed upon the employees
the 'right to disconnect' and put their work life on hold when not in
office. Similarly, labour law reforms are need of the hour and the
ruling BJP government has to win the trust of the opposition for the
same. We hope labour law reforms in India would see the light of the
day very soon.