EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRIAL

RELATIONS IN INDIA
OBJECTIVES

 To understand the journey of industrial

relations from its very inception and its
different stages till date.

 To present the shape of thing to come.

CONTENTS
 Industrial relations in India prior to British raj
 Industrial relations during colonial period
 Industrial relations in post independence era
 Industrial relations in post globalisation period till date
 Emerging business scenario
 Changing dimensions of IR in India
Industrial relations in India prior to
British raj
 India was predominately a pastral and agrarian economy
during ancient medieval times.
 Trade and business were few and far
 A large no. of occupations were carried on by small mfrs. in
their cottages, mostly on hereditary basis.
 Slavery & seldom were common.
 The employer – employee relation were those of master &
slave.
 Ancient scriptures and laws of our country laid emphasis on
the promotion and maintenance of peaceful relations between
capital and labour
 The Indian work of arts and crafts were badly
damaged during the invasions of foreign invaders,
which lasted for last 700 years.
 The conditions deteriorated to such an extent that
there was hardly any difference between an artisan
and a slave.
 The situation improved only after the restoration of
law and order under the Mughals.
 The commercial character of East India Co. did not
change the conditions of workers.
Industrial relations during colonial
period
 Industrial relation is a by product of industrial revolution and it
owes its origin from excessive exploitation of workers by
owners of industries.

 The first world war is the first milestone enroute to industrial

relations in India.

 Many other events happened which accelerated the pace of

industrial relations during the period:-
 The success of Russian Revolution in 1917
 Establishment of ILO 1919
 Constitutional development in India 1919
 Establishment of AITUC In 1920.
 Formation of the labour party govt. in the U.K. in1924.
 The indian trade union act of 1926.
 The trade dispute act 1929.
 Formation of royal commission on labour, 1929-31.
 The second world war gave a new spurt in the industrial
relations field.
 The govt. of India embarked upon a two-fold action for
maintaining industrial relations:-

 Statutory regulation of industrial relations through the defence

of India rules
 Bringing all the interests together at a common forum for
shaping labour policy
 The objectives, set before the two tripartite
bodies at the time of their inception in1942,
were:-
 Promotion of uniformity in labour legislation;
 Laying down of a procedurefor the settlement of
industrial disputes;
 Discussion of all matters of all india importance
as between employers and employees
Industrial Relations In Post-
Independent Er a

 We inherited industrial relations legacies

from our colonial masters with colonial
mindset, habits & culture

 Coincidentally our freedom struggle

coincided with the struggle by the working
class for better industrial relations.
 Most of our leaders were influenced by Fabin
socialist and Marxist
 These philosophies got reflected in our
constitution-
 The preamble of the constitution
 The fundamental rights
 The directive principle of state policies.
 The aftermath of independence saw the
mushroom growth of trade unions and a
plethora of labour legislation and this led to
bitter industrial relations.
 This was the period when industrial policy
resolution, 1956 facilitated the growth of the
PSU both at the centre and state level
 In the year 1975 the voluntary schemes for workers’
participation in the Mgt. and workers education
schemes
 In the year 1969 the first national commission on
labour was formed.
 This is also the period when nationalisation of
industry was at peak
 In the post independence period, especially the later
portion of 70s and 80s, the Indian judicial has
displayed unprecedented judicial activism by giving
pro-labour judgements, which had tremendous
inpact on industrial relations.
 The result was that we has a pampered labour class
and a stagnant, protected, regulated and controlled
industrial relations scenario in the late 80s.
In post Globalisation Period from 1991
till Date

 The traditional IR was reactive, negative,

passive, ad-hoc and legalistic. It was selfish
by virtue of being confined to its own
members, without having any concern for
business organisations or society at large.
 Trade unions are marginalised and kept
outside the main stream of business.

 Introduction of state of art technology,

innovation , creativity and strategic alignment
of divergent resources.
Emerging Business Scenario

 In the post industrial society, technological

revolution has created a situation where
space, distance and time have lost their
relevance.
 The business skyline is completely changing
by continuous mergers and acquisitions
across the globe.
 Hence, India embarked on a new Economic
Policy. Some of the features of this policy
were as under:-
 Core sector have been opened for private
sectors
 Disinvestment of PSU’s have become reality
 Multinationals are allowed to invest in India in
non strategic sectors- inflow of FDIs
 Banking and insurance sectors are opened to
investment buy foreign FIIs.
 Restrictions and regulations on industrial
licensing and inspections were relaxed.
 India, being member of WTO, IMF and WB,-
declared as its policy to follow guidelines.
 Core conventions(forced labour, child labour,
etc.) of ILO started influencing our trade and
business.
 New players like consumer forums, NGOs,
environmental compaigners and electronic
media are replacing trade unions in many
grey areas.
 Changing Dimensions of Industrial
Relations In India

 Traditional IR is giving way to emerging

employee relations.

 Features
 The institution of trade union is getting weak
 The institution of collective bargaining is being
decentralized.
 Disinvestment/privatisation and VRS are almost
accepted facts of industrial relations.

 Changing pattern of compensation

 Well paying secure, low-productive jobs in organised

sector are replaced by low paying more insecure
productive jobs in unorganised sector.

 Pro labour stance of Govt. is getting reduced.