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Four Labour Codes passed by the RSS BJP-led union government during the Covid-19 lockdown, ratified by several non-BJP state governments, have been justifiably criticised for eliminating 40+ labour protections won by over a century of struggles. Reading them together, they justify a labour regime that is ‘flexible’ to the needs of international finance capital as the only path to economic progress.
These changes have been in the air for some time now, even before they were legally sanctified. For instance, the new Industrial Relations Code normalises ‘hire-and-fire’ by allowing employment on a Fixed Term basis for as low as three months. Such highly contractualised employment has been practised for some time now in Special Economic Zones such as the Manesar – Bawana – Neemrana in Haryana and Rajasthan, ‘NEEM Trainees’ have been performing jobs earlier done by permanent workers. In the name of vocational education, the AICTE’s National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM), set up under UPA 2 in 2013, pushes workers as young as 16 years old into grueling labour in the name of technical education. It is a bonanza for corporates—not only are ‘trainees’ and ‘apprentices’ not covered by labour protections, the government also pays half their wages to encourage ‘skill development’. A 2017 notification by the Modi regime lowered the turnover criteria for private firms to sign up as NEEM ‘facilitators’, increased the ‘training period’ to three years and massively increased the presence of NEEM workers in industrial belts. The National Education Policy 2020 prepares workers for such a ‘flexible’ job market through ‘multiple exit options’ in Class VIII to choose a vocational stream. What is this if not dropping out of studies?
