How Does the Law and Social Justice Protect the

Workers?
It is obvious that all the private companies, contractors, and
businesspersons normally want to make as much profit as they can. In
this desire for profits, they sometimes deny the workers their rights and
do not pay them the desirable wages.

According to the law, it is illegal or wrong to deny workers their wages.

Similarly, to ensure that workers are paid fairly, there is a law on
minimum wages. As per this law, workers have to be paid not less than
the minimum wage by the employer. The minimum wages are revised
upwards every few years.

Not only are there laws to protect the minimum wages, there are also
laws that protect the interests of producers and consumers in the market.
These help in ensuring that the workers, consumers, and producers work
in a manner that is not exploitative.

The government of the country controls the activities of the entities by

making, enforcing and upholding these laws. In this way, it checks to
confer social justice to one and all. Many of these laws have their basis
in the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

For instance, the Right against Exploitation states that no person can be
compelled to work for low wages or under bondage. Similarly, the
Constitution lays down “no child below the age of 14 shall be employed
to work in any factory or mines or any other hazardous employment.”

Worker’s Worth
One of the main reasons why foreign companies come to India is for
cheap labour. Wages that the companies pay to workers are much lower
in India than other countries abroad. For lower pay, companies can get
long hours of work. Additional expenses such as for housing facilities
for workers are also fewer. This allows various companies to save costs
and earn higher profits.

This is where the Indian worker’s worth comes into place. One worker
can easily replace another. Since there is so much unemployment, there
are many workers who are willing to work in unsafe conditions in return
for a wage. The employers, thus, tend to ignore the worker’s safety in
many places and exploit their vulnerability.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

One such instance where the negligence of the employers led to the
death of many employees is the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. However, after so
many years even now, this negligence continues. Safety laws
enforcement by the Government:

 The Government ensures that the Right to Life guaranteed under

Article 21 of the Constitution is not violated.
 With more industries being set up both by local and foreign
businesses in India, there is a great need for stronger laws protecting
workers’ rights and better enforcement of these laws.

New Laws to Protect the Environment

Back in the year 1984, there was very less number of laws to protect the
environment in India. The environment was treated as a ‘free’ entity and
any industry could pollute the air and water without any restrictions.

After the Bhopal gas tragedy, the issue of the environment came to the
forefront. Several thousands of persons who were not associated with
the factory in any way were greatly affected because of the poisonous
gases leaked from the plant. This awakened peoples’ senses about the
need for protection of those people who might not be workers but suffer
from industrial accidents.

After the years that followed the tragic incident at Bhopal, the Indian
government introduced many new laws on the environment. According
to some of these laws, the polluter was to be held accountable for the
damage done to the environment.

Conclusion

A major role of the government, thus, remains to protect the

environment and the workers from the exploitation of the private
companies. It must enact and enforce good laws from time to time to
counter the negative impacts of these companies on the environment.
Besides this, the government must also ensure that the laws abide by the
welfare of the labourers and the workers.