Who Will Penalize the Laxity on the Part of Law Enforcers? – Part IV

In the fourth of a five-part series on the absence of checks and balances on the State to ensure the effective operation of labour laws, and how it led to the shameful and tragic predicament faced by thousands of migrant workers across the country during the COVID-19 induced nation-wide lockdown last year, K.R. SHYAM SUNDAR delves into the poor quality of labour statistics and the need for reforms in labour inspections in India.

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Part I | Part II | Part III | Part V

THERE are two kinds of official sources of labour statistics in India, viz. the administrative data (based on annual returns submitted by firms/trade unions) and household surveys (i.e., the National Sample Surveys (NSS) or the Periodical Labour Force Surveys (PLFS)). In this part, we concentrate on the administrative data.

The system of annual returns submissions works as follows: The primary data-giving units are factories, shops and establishments, plantations, mines, ports and docks, contractors, and so on which are registered under their respective generic laws; for example, factories under the Factories Act, 1948. They are required, under the various labour laws, like the Factories Act, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (the PW Act), and the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 (CLRA Act), among others, to provide relevant data to government agencies.