THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY May 21, 1955

whilst the capacity and scope of our manufacturing facilities are being expanded in many places to meet g rowing produc t requirements.

Supplement ing the transportation chapter in the survey, a further 19 general purpose tankers of 18,000 tons are expected to be delivered by the builders d u r i n g 1955, as wel l as seven of the 31,000-ton ships on order. These deliveries w i l l further improve the efficiency of the f leet .

In February of this year an offer was made by Shell Chemicals L t d of

Indian Labour Conference ON E of the blessings conferred

b y the Second W o r l d W a r was the adopt ion by the Ind ian Governmen t of the annual t r ipar t i te conference on the model of the In ternat ional Labour Conference. T h e exigencies of war necessitated active and w i l l i n g co-operation of Capi ta l and Labour and this was sought th rough consultat ion w i t h these two partners of industry dur ing the annual conferences. T h e war ended in 1945; bu t this healthy prac­tice of State consul ta t ion w i t h indus­try and labour has come to stay. W i t h i n its l i m i t e d sphere, the con­ference has proved useful in varying measure for all the three parties. Industr ia l democracy under the paternal care of the State is at work here. It is the Parliament where the representatives of three parties discuss past events, present maladies and future legislation. W i t h i n a democratic set up , it is convenient for a popular Government to get the views of employers and workers on non-controversial topics. Cont ro­versial subjects are kept away f rom the conference. Here is a forum w h i c h provides a c o m m o n ground to employers and workers to accuse each other in an academic fashion. Once a year, the three parties come together and discuss across the table problems of general as we l l as topical interest.

U n t i l recently, the sessions of the conference were being held in D e l h i . Lately, however, there has been a welcome change. T h e 12th session was at N a i n i t a l (1952), the 13th was at Mysore (1954) and the 14th session was held in Bombay.

T h e Bombay session was as usual a success, because the. subjects chosen for discussion provided l i t t l e scope for any divergence of o p i n i o n . T h e subjects taken up , however, were impor tan t enough to interest all t he three parties. A c t i o n taken on the decisions of the previous session (Mysore, January 1954) was review­

e d . General matters i n the f i e ld o f

£5 m i l l i o n for the acquisit ion of the entire issued share capital of Petro­chemicals L t d , and in f u l l settlement of the claims upon that company. T h e terms of the offer were accepted, and Petrochemicals L t d has conse­quent ly become a group company. T h e acquisition of this interest gives the group an immediate entry i n to a chemical field in the U n i t e d K i n g d o m which is complementary to its present interests; it w i l l also pro-vide rights in certain new and i m ­portant fields of chemical research.

indust r ia l relations were very broad-ly discussed. Various amendments to the M i n i m u m Wages Ac t , which s l i l l awaits f u l l implementa t ion , were suggested. T h e desirability of extending the provisions of the Em­ployees' Provident Funds Ac t , 1952, to 16 new industries (employing 10,000 workers or more) and to plantations and mines was stressed. An employers' association suggested the in t roduc t ion of an unemploy­ment insurance scheme in place of the present p roh ib i t ive provision for pay-off and retrenchment compensa­t i o n . T h e main f ind ings of the Agr icu l tu ra l Labour Enqu i ry (1950-51) were summarised for the con­ference to make any recommenda­tions in the f ie ld . T h e factual f ind ings of a Labour Bureau monograph on " C h i l d Labour in India " were placed before the conference to make suggestions for checking the evil of ch i ld labour, w h i c h seem to persist in spite of the protective legislation. Details of the proposal for setting up of a wage commission were called for by an al l - India workers' organisa­t i o n . I t was proposed to change the name " W o r k i n g Class Cost of L i v ­ing Index Numbers" of the Labour Bureau series to " Consumer Price Index N u m b e r for W o r k i n g Class" , as the latter was more appropriate.

Bo th in i t ; structure and contents, the Indian Labour Conference is a minia ture model of the Internat ional L a b o u r Conference. Natura l ly , India's relations w i t h the ILO pro vide impor tan t topics for discussion. The Bombay session reviewed the

work of the I L O conferences and committees held in 1954 and dis­cussed the various proposals for con ventions . and recommendations on the agenda of the 58th session of the Internat ional Labour Conference being held at Geneva dur ing June 1955. T h e earlier session of the Ind ian Labour Conference had Set up a t r ipar t i te three-man commit tee to draw up a programme of imple­menta t ion of the principles, i f no t

611

the indiv idual provisions, o f I L O conventions. Th i s commit tee had its second session du r ing the Bom­bay conference. Ind ia has ratified up t i l l now only 22 out of a h u n ­dred and odd I L O conventions. T h e commit tee on conventions, it is ex­pected, w i l l enable the Government of Ind ia to ratify more conventions and thereby confirm India's r igh t fu l place as one of most advanced coun­tries of industr ia l importance, by I L O standards.

W h a t may be considered to be the most impor t an t i t em on the agenda, viz, the Second Five-Year Plan, d i d no t receive adequate atten­t i o n . In the First Five-Year Plan, Labour had been relegated to the background and was almost neglect­ed. F u l l details of the Second Five-Year P lan have no t yet been made available. However, f r o m the mea­gre details doled out to the pub l i c , the Plan has evoked m u c h interest. T h e Labour M i n i s t r y have already suggested for inc lus ion : extension of existing social security schemes, workers' education, a fresh agricultu­ral labour enquiry, industr ial muse­ums, t ra in ing for welfare, housing, establishment of a Central Labour Ins t i tu te and expansion of employ­ment service organisation. The con­ference was requested to suggest more schemes for further improve-ment of labour. T h e progress made in the implementa t ion of the First Plan was also reviewed. Natural ly an important and comprehensive item l ike the Second Five-Year Plan could not be adequately discussed alongwith 16 other items. A special session, preferably the next session of the conference, may be whol ly devoted to discuss the role of indus­try and labour in the implementat ion of the Second Five-Year Plan. By-then, the Planning Commission would have finalised the Second Plan and the Planning Min is te r w h o is also a specialist in labour problems should help the deliberations by lay-ing down certain guid ing principles for industry and labour.