“It appears that not all these laws have had the intended good effects that we would like to see on the ground”

India’s Prime Minister say's (I don’t know to whom he ask these questions, whether it is for Labour Minister etc,.)

• ……..we have enacted several progressive labour laws since independence and some even before that. But it appears that not all these laws have had the intended good effects that we would like to see on the ground. We need to consider the possible role of some of our labour laws in contributing to rigidities in the labour market which hurt the growth of employment on a large scale. Is it possible that our best intentions for labour are not actually met by laws that sound progressive on paper but end up hurting the very workers they are meant to protect? Do we have empirical evidence on the changing nature of employment generation with changes in labour legislation, not just in our own country but in the neighbourhood as well? If we want to draw more and more workers into the organized sector where they can claim the benefits that currently cover such a very small proportion of our labour force, do we need to rethink the nature of the laws that enforce such benefits?