Module-1: Indian Work Ethics: Law and Ethics - Part-2

Part 1 has given us the relationship among Law, Ethics and Morality and also shed light on the Indian Ethos on Management /Work during ancient days. The Part 2 takes  through Independent India through its modernisation efforts.

The Constitution of India (the “Constitution”) is the cornerstone of individual rights and liberties, and also providesthe basic framework within which all lawsin India, including lawsrelating to labour and employment, must operate. The Constitution guarantees certain fundamental rights to individuals such as the right to life, privacy, equality before the law and prohibition of discrimination in public education and employment on the basis of religion, sect, gender and caste. The Constitution recognizes ‘right to livelihood’ as an integral part of the fundamental right to life.

In addition tofundamental rights, the Constitution also envisages certain ‘directiveprinciples’ which serve as a guide to the legislature towards fulfilling social and economic goals. Given India’s colonial and socialist history, social justice has always been at the forefront of several Indian legislations, specifically labour and employment laws. It is important to note that several labour laws in India have been designed from a worker emancipation perspective – including those relating to factories, mines, plantations, shops, commercial establishments as well as those relating to payment of wages, regulation of trade unions, provision of social security, industrial safety and hygiene.

 

Fundamental prerequisite of any profession is good ethics. Ethics denotes to human behaviour to make decisions between what is correct and what is wrong. Professional ethics are those set code or moral principles that govern a person's conduct in a professional workplace or work life. In the legal profession, a lawyer must obey to professional codes for fair dealing with the client and uphold the self-possession. The Indian government has established a statutory body known as The Bar council of India under the Advocate Act,1961.

 

India has been a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) since its foundation in 1919 and is one of its leading members International labour standards create obligations upon governments that ratify conventions. The Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code transposes ILSs from the language of international law into a format that creates voluntary commitments from its corporate members who then seek to apply them through their supply chain

 

The law relating to labour and employment in India is primarily known under the broad category of "Industrial Law".

The history of labour legislation in India is naturally interwoven with the history of British colonialism. The industrial/labour legislations enacted by the British were primarily intended to protect the interests of the British employers. Considerations of British political economy were naturally paramount in shaping some of these early laws. The earliest Indian statute to regulate the relationship between employer and his workmen was the Trade Dispute Act, 1929 (Act 7 of 1929). Provisions were made in this Act for restraining the rights of strike and lock out but no machinery was provided to take care of disputes.

The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, is, therefore, the matrix, the charter, as it were, to the industrial law. The Act and other analogous State statutes provide the machinery for regulating the rights of the employers and employees for investigation and settlement of industrial disputes in peaceful and harmonious atmosphere by providing scope for collective bargaining by negotiations and mediation and, failing that, by voluntary arbitration or compulsory adjudication by the authorities created under these statutes with the active participation of the trade unions.


In 2019, the Ministry of Labour and Employment introduced four Bills on labour codes to consolidate 29 central laws.  These Codes regulate: (i) Wages, (ii) Industrial Relations, (iii) Social Security, and (iv) Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions.  While the Code on Wages, 2019 has been passed by Parliament, Bills on the other three areas were referred to the Standing Committee on Labour.  The Standing Committee submitted its reports on all three Bills.[3]  The government has replaced these Bills with new ones in September 2020.


From the foregoing discussions, it can be concluded that India has been on the forefront of business ethics from vedic days itself, much ahead of rest of the world and continue its efforts to support human pursuit in its entirety: 'vasudaiva kudumbakam' meaning this world is our family.


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