Need a grand bargain to boost job growth

Yet, enforcement of labour laws remains patchy, given the limited resources of the State. India’s labour regime has been disjointed right from the start. In the early part of the 20th century, both British administrators and Congress politicians struggled to reconcile the competing demands of a heterogeneous workforce and a diverse group of employers. A compromise was reached only at the fag end of the British Raj, when major employer groups and trade unions agreed to a contributory model of sickness insurance (involving paid sickness leave and medical benefits) for industrial workers. Soon after Independence, the Employees State Insurance Corporation…