Context:

• Recently, the Tamil Nadu Assembly amended the Factory Act of 1948, to extend the number of working hours in a day, from eight hours to 12 hours and a similar piece of legislation was passed in the Karnataka Assembly, a few months ago. 

Withdrawal of the legislation:

• However, during May Day celebrations in Chennai, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister announced the withdrawal of the legislation. 

Victory of Struggle:

• The eight-hour working day, adopted by the International Labour Organization in 1919, is a hard won right by workers and trade unions, who have had to struggle over the years to keep capricious policy changes at bay. 

Changes in laws, no social dialogue:

• Not only are sustained processes of consultations with workers being short-circuited or ignored altogether, but these are also being considered anathema by almost all ruling dispensations irrespective of political persuasions. 
• Prioritizing a favorable investment climate over the well-being of workers.

Bullishness about the brand’s business prospects in India:

• For Apple’s opening of its first two retail stores in India, the Apple CEO was here for the events. 
• This follows his statement last year, expressing bullishness about the brand’s business prospects in India, which was lapped up and trumpeted as a sign of India being well and truly in the race to run parallel with China, if not completely eclipse it in the long run. 
• However, cutting through the hype, what is left unsaid is how Apple, and by extension, other transnational corporations too, thrives by tantalising a race between India and China. 
• Through its suppliers, it incentivises this artificial competition, even while retaining the flexibility to operate across contending geographies and feeding on consumers’ tastes, who view the possession of its devices as a status symbol.

Mainland China as template:

• The two happenings in April may seem separate, but from a labour-centric perspective, it is only rational to spot the connection. 
• Already, under its ‘Make in India initiative’ and later with the Production Linked Incentives scheme, the central government aims to turn the country into a manufacturing hub, like China. 
• The central government has been working in close coordination with various State governments to work out common strategies to capitalize on the company’s diversification plans away from China.
• The dormitory labour regime as practiced in Mainland China (which in effect looks to be recreated in India) blurs the socio-spatial boundaries between work and life. 

Conclusion:

• In such a highly regimented, constantly disciplining, just-in-time production system that demands orderliness and standardization from workers, the human costs of the squeeze are not only physical but also mental and emotional. 
• Ultimately, viewed from a labor-centric perspective, in the ambition to overtake China, we end up, more or less, as being another China.

News Source: The Hindu

DOWNLOAD PDF