1.

Evaluate the impact of International Labour Organization (ILO) on the Indian Labour Scenario.

The ILO (International Labor Organization) was set up in the year 1919, with an aim to improve the conditions of labors around the world.India was the founding member of ILO, which has now expanded its membership to 145 nations. ILO through its conventions and recommendations helps nations to draw their own set of labor laws for the better treatment of the working class, and the preservation of their rights. The principal means of action in the ILO is the setting up the International Labor Standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations. Conventions are international treaties and are instruments, which create legally binding obligations on the countries that ratify them. Recommendations are non-binding and set out guidelines orienting national policies and actions. Labor Law regulates matters, such as, labor employment, remunerations, and conditions of work, trade unions, and labor management relations. They also include social laws regulating such aspects as compensation for accident caused to a worker at work, fixation of minimum wages, maternity benefits, sharing of the companys profit by the workers, and so on. Most of these legal instruments regulate rights and responsibilities of the working people. The approach of India with regard to International Labor Standards has always been positive. The ILO instruments have provided guidelines and useful framework for the evolution of legislative and administrative measures for the protection and advancement of the interest of labor. To that extent the influence of ILO Conventions as a standard for reference for labor legislation and practices in India, rather than as a legally binding norm, has been significant. Ratification of a Convention imposes legally binding obligations on the country concerned and, therefore, India has been careful in ratifying Conventions. It has always been the practice in India that we ratify a Convention when we are fully satisfied that our laws and practices are in conformity with the relevant ILO Convention. It is now considered that a better course of action is to proceed with progressive implementation of the standards, leave the formal ratification for consideration at a later stage when it becomes practicable

THE EFFECT OF ILO ON LABOR SCENARIO & LEGISLATION IN INDIA With the growth and expansion of factories and industries in the subcontinent beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, new avenues for employment were

created, resulting in a gradual migration of the labor force from rural areas to mills and factories located primarily in urban areas. At that time, in the absence of any state control or organization of the workers, the employers were less concerned about the needs of their employees; the work hours were too long, wages much below the subsistence level, and the workers employment conditions were unsatisfactory. The situation led to the enactment of a number of legislations beginning from the year 1881. These include, inter alia, the Factories Act (1881), Workmens Compensation Act (1923), Trade Unions Act (1926), Trade Disputes Act (1929), Payment of Wages Act (1936), Maternity Benefit Act (1939), and the Employment of Children Act The Factories Act 1881 is the basis of all labor and industrial laws of the country. It contained provisions even for hours of work of women and workers including that of minimum age for employment of children. After the International Labor Organization (ILO) was formed in 1919, this Act was amended and thereafter repealed, resulting in the promulgation of the Factories Act 1934. It makes provision for safety, health and hygiene of the workers and special provision for women and juvenile workers. It also prohibits child labor. It limits work of a child in factories, including the seasonal ones. Under the Mines Act 1923 which applies to workers employed in mines, the hours of work for persons employed on surface are limited to ten per day and fifty four per week. The periods of work including rest interval shall not spread over more than 12 hours in any day. For workers employed underground, the daily limit is nine hours per day. The Act does not contain provisions as to overtime work. No worker is to work in a mine for more than six days a week. The Act does not provide for wages for the weekly rest day. The government of India set up an enquiry committee in 1926 to ascertain the loophole for irregularity of payment of wages to industrial workers. The Royal Commission on Labor appointed in 1929 considered the reports and suggestions of the aforesaid enquiry committee and recommended for enactment for prevention of maladies relating to payment of wages resulting in the promulgation of the Payment of Wages Act in 1936. It aimed, firstly, at disbursement of actual distributable wages to workers within the prescribed period and, secondly, to ensure that the employees get their full wages without any deduction. The Act was passed to regulate the payment of wages to certain classes of persons employed in industry. The object of the Act obviously was to provide a cheap and speedy remedy for employees to whom the Act applied inter alia, to recover wages due to them, and for that purpose, a special tribunal was subsequently created, but due to some inherent defects in the statute the recovery of decree able wages remained difficult.

The Weekly Holidays Act of 1942 prescribes one paid holiday a week for persons employed in any shop, restaurant or theatre (excepting those employed in a confidential capacity or in a position of management). The government is empowered to grant additional half-day holiday with pay in a week The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 came into being on the 1st day of April 1947. The Act provided for establishment of industrial tribunals by the appropriate government in British India. It established a full-fledged industrial tribunal for adjudication of industrial disputes for the first time The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 came into operation for the first time requiring employers in industrial establishments employing 100 or more workmen to define the terms of employment of workmen in the form of standing orders which should be in general conformity with the model standing orders incorporated in the Act. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1923 provided for an agreement between a seaman and the master of the ship regarding terms of service CONCLUSION Labor class is indeed one of the classes most vulnerable to exploitation if not the most. Most of the labor legislations in India are pre constitutional. The concept of Fundamental Rights was introduced the Constitution. Although most of the pre constitutional legislations have been repealed or curtailed following the Doctrine of Eclipse and Doctrine of Severability, not a lot of changes have had to be made to the labor laws that were well passed before the Constitution. The success of these labor legislations must be attributed to the ILO, as the guidelines issued by the ILO were formed the principles on which these legislations were drawn. By observing the passage of Labor Legislations in India, through the various amendments and enactments, it is evident that the ILO did have a great impact on the Labor Scenario & Laws in India. Many new laws were enacted to incorporate the guidelines of the conventions of the ILO that were ratified by India. The setting up of ILO also saw the amendment of Factories Act, 1881. All these amended and enacted legislations make provisions for the general welfare and protection of interest of the labors in India. The positive influence of ILO is seen in form of recognition of many new kinds of rights that were erstwhile not available to the labor class, but were made available post the creation of ILO.