Why do we need a law on minimum
wages?
Ans: Private
companies, contractors, businesspersons normally want to make as much profit as
they can.
In the drive for profits, they might deny workers their
rights and not pay them wages.
A worker has to be paid not less than the minimum wage by
the employer.
The minimum wages are revised upwards every few years.
2. making
laws is not enough. The government has to ensure that these laws are
implemented. This means that the law must be enforced. For instance, to ensure
that every worker gets fair wages, the government has to regularly inspect work
sites and punish those who violate the law. When workers are poor or powerless,
the fear of losing future earnings or facing reprisals often forces them to
accept low wages.
3. Through
making, enforcing and upholding these laws, the government can control the
activities of individuals or private companies so as to ensure social justice.
4. The
Right against Exploitation says that no one can be forced to work for low wages
or under bondage. Similarly, the Constitution lays down “no child below the age
of 14 shall be employed to work in any factory or mines or any other hazardous
employment.”
5. n
October 2006, the government amended the Child Labour
Prevention Act, banning children under 14 years of age from working as
domestic servants or as workers in dhabas, restaurants, tea shops etc. It made
employing these children a punishable offence. Anyone found violating the ban
must be penalised with a punishment ranging from a jail term of three months to
two years and/or fine of Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000.
6.
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
The world’s
worst industrial tragedy took place in Bhopal
24 years ago. Union Carbide (UC) an American company had a factory in the city
in which it produced pesticides. At midnight on 2 December 1984
methyl-isocyanite (MIC) - a highly poisonous gas - started leaking from this UC
plant..
Remembers Aziza
Sultan, a survivor: “At about 12.30 am I woke to the sound of my baby coughing
badly. In the half-light I saw that the room was filled with a white cloud. I
heard people shouting ‘run, run’. Then I started coughing, with each breath
seeming as if I was breathing in fire. My eyes were burning.” Mass cremations A
child severely affected by the gas The next morning.
Within three
days, more than 8,000 people were dead. Hundreds of thousands were maimed.
Most of those
exposed to the poison gas came from poor, working-class families, of which
nearly 50,000 people are today too sick to work. Among those who survived, many
developed severe respiratory disorders, eye problems and other disorders.
Children developed peculiar abnormalities.
Q. Why did Union Carbide set up its plant in India?
Or
Q. What are the advantages to foreign companies in setting up
production in India?
Ans: Foreign
companies come to India
for cheap labour.
Wages that the
companies pay to workers, say in the U.S.A.,
are far higher than what they have to pay to workers in poorer countries like India.
For lower pay,
companies can get longer hours of work.
Additional
expenses such as for housing facilities for workers are also fewer. Thus,
companies can save costs and earn higher profits.
Q. Why Bhopal
tragedy was happened?
Ans: In the UC
plant, every safety device was malfunctioning or was in short supply. Between
1980 and 1984, the work crew for the MIC plant was cut in half from 12 to 6
workers.
The period of
safety training for workers was brought down from 6 months to 15 days!
The post of
night-shift worker for the MIC plant was abolished.
Q. What is meant by workers’
vulnerability?
Ans; One worker can easily replace another. Since there is
so much unemployment.
There are many
workers who are willing to work in unsafe conditions in return for a wage.
Employers ignore safety in workplaces. Thus, there are
regular reports of accidents in construction sites, mines or factories.
Enforcement of Safety Laws
It is a duty of the government to ensure that the Right to
Life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution is not violated,
Q. Why do you think enforcement of
safety laws is important in any factory?
Ans; There are regular
reports of accidents in construction sites, mines or factories.
With more industries being set up both by local and foreign
businesses in India,
there is a great need for stronger laws protecting workers’ rights and better
enforcement of these laws.
New Laws to Protect the Environment
In response to this pressure from environmental activists
and others, in the years following the Bhopal
gas tragedy, the Indian government introduced new laws on the environment.
Henceforth, the polluter was to be held accountable for the
damage done to environment. The environment is something that people over
generations will share, and it could not be destroyed merely for industrial
development.
The courts also gave a number of judgments upholding the
right to a healthy environment as intrinsic to the Fundamental Right to Life.
In Subhash Kumar vs. State of Bihar
(1991), the Supreme Court held that the Right to Life is a Fundamental Right
under Article 21 of the Constitution and it includes the right to the enjoyment
of pollution-free water and air for full enjoyment of life.
The government is responsible for setting up laws and
procedures that can check pollution, clean rivers and introduce heavy fines for
those who pollute.
Emissions from vehicles are a major cause of environmental
pollution.
In a series of rulings (1998 onwards), the Supreme Court had
ordered all public transport vehicles using diesel were to switch to Compressed
Natural Gas (CNG).
As a result of this move, air pollution in cities like Delhi came down
considerably.
