Under fire, Labour Ministry out with social media platform

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 28

Under fire from various quarters, including workers’ bodies, for its allegedly improper handling of labour issues during the lockdown, the Union Labour Ministry has launched a social media platform for the Labour Bureau to provide latest statistics relating to the sector.

A Twitter handle, @LabourDG, was inaugurated by Union Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar. He tweeted that this handle will be a regular source of updated Indian labour market indicators. A majority of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) had expressed unhappiness and resorted to protests over the “inept” handling of labour issues since the lockdown was clamped.

The launch of the platform comes on the heels of the Labour Ministry reportedly asking the state governments not to tinker with the existing labour laws. At least eight BJP and non-BJP state governments either diluted the laws or freezed them in the midst of the lockdown with justification of “revival of economies of the states”.

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of Ministry of Labour and Employment, has been collecting and disseminating information on various facets of labour like wages, earnings, productivity, absenteeism, labour turnover, industrial relations, working and living conditions and evaluation of working of various labour enactments etc. The information disseminated by the bureau plays an important role in advising the government for formulation of employment policies.