Sangh offshoots to hold protests against NITI Aayog’s policies

Over the weekend one of the largest trade unions — the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) — will organise a two-day nationwide protest against the government’s think tank NITI Aayog.

The BMS, which claims to represent over 5,000 unions, is an offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), but this affiliation has not come in the way of its acerbic criticism of the Aayog.

Its protest is a sign of growing confrontation between the government and the trade unions against anomalies in wages and economic policies that have led to jobs cuts and disinvestment of public sector units. The BMS wants the think tank, which it refers to as an “expensive exercise with lopsided intellectuals”, dismantled and accuses its members of having a “disconnect with the real India”.

BMS President CK Shaji Narayana told HT, “There is poor response (from the government) to the labour and services sectors. Following the advice of NITI Aayog, the government is moving towards contractual employment, relaxing labour laws to benefit industry.”

He cited the example of relaxing laws to encourage women to work in night shifts at factories, and allowing change of land use to develop commercial enterprises on agricultural land as “defective suggestions”.

“In a country where women are not safe during the day, who will be responsible for their safety in factories at night. Another example is the proposed merger of the Coal Mines Provident Fund (CMPF) with Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which will affect workers as CMPF offers better return on saving than the EPF,” Narayanan said.

The labour arm of the Sangh says India is counted among the countries where labour laws are flagrantly violated.

As farmers’ protests in several states including the BJP-ruled Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh continues, the BMS has slammed the government for being slow to address concerns such as a mismatch in remuneration and investment. “India is notorious for farmer suicides, yet Aayog suggests waiving of “excessive support,” Narayanan said.

NITI Aayog sources told HT that the opposition to its suggestions stems from the reluctance that trade unions have to change and reform. Vice chairman Arvind Panagariya said, “We are only recommending policies that are in national interest.”

Uber Technologies Inc has hired a law firm to investigate how it obtained the medical records of an Indian woman who was raped by an Uber driver in 2014. The review will focus in part on accusations from some current and former employees that bribes were involved, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP, which is in the early stages of the probe, was hired by the ride service after employees gave contradictory accounts of how Uber obtained the medical records, one of the people said.

The firm is also exploring whether former chief executive Travis Kalanick knew how Uber came into possession of the records, the person added. Kalanick through a spokesman declined to comment.REUTERS