we are grateful to the Dr. Sahib Singh Verma, Union Labour Minister to attend the Conference in circumstances where it would have been otherwise impossible. Owing to the Elections in Delhi and his sudden meetings, the Hon'ble Union Labour Minister visited Mumbai without secuirty cover as the attending the conference was removed from his official  schedule

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INDUSTRIAL & CORPORATE LAWS

13TH & 14TH OCTOBER 2003

Inauguration By : His Excellency Mr. Mohd Fazal (Governor Of Maharshtra)

Chief Guest : DR. Sahib Singh Verma (Union Labour Minister)

Guest Of Honor : Sh. Sushil Kumar Shinde (Chief Minister Maharshtra)

Media Covering the National Conference: (Apart from the Govt. Press of Cm office and Labour Ministry)

TV Channels : Aaj Ki Baat - Star News, NDTV, Aaj Tak, CNBC, Doordarshan, Zee News, Aaj Tak (post Lunch)

News Papers: Times of India, Financial Express, Vashi Times, Indian Express, Asian Age

Journals : Free Press Journal, Fortune India, Capital Market, Business & Finance,

News Agencies: Press Information Bureau (PIB), UNI, ANI, Reuters

The Chief Guest Shri Sahib Singh Verma, Hon’ble Union Labour Minister emphatically underscored the need for social security. With a 40 Crore workforce out of which only 3 Crore people had social security. He detailed the various types of social security schemes eg., medical security, certain minimum pension, and family pension in case of death. Exploitation of the worker had to go. He stressed on the need for increased foreign investment that would in turn generate a greater number of jobs. He called for the creation of such an environment as would facilitate increased FDI, which could only be brought about through simplified labour laws.

 Mr. Alok Sinha, Advocate, Supreme Court, after drawing an insight into the basic purposes of the Conference advocated the fundamental need for simplified labour laws. He also spoke at length about engagement, termination and closure citing a number of practical examples and illustrations. He expressed his strong views that if employment was generated by Foreign Investment in the country, then labour/employee would not have to run after the job as he would have more opportunities and needed not to be stuck to the same job. Instead, the employer would like to retain the employee as they already had knowledge and experience of that particular field. Therefore, labour disputes and litigation would automatically be reduced and government would not have to make so many protective laws, which in turn made Labour Law very complicated, and the overall situation very unfavourable to foreign investors.

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Sushil Kumar Shindey (who could not attend the press conference as he was scheduled post lunch due to his sudden engagement in Pune, submitted his views through the offical speech submitted to the organisers) expressed his views that there is an ample workforce available in the villages and ample facilities would be available in the near future. There is no reason for concentration or the opening of new units only near the cities. Villages should became the focus of development and growth of the country at large as they will be fully equipped with manpower, machinery and all other necessary infrastructure. He further expressed the bitter truth that we have a large population of 100 crores but we could turn this in our favor by providing economical, reasonable and competitive workforce in the international market.

Sh. Alok Sinha, Adv. Supreme Court and Expert Labour Laws and Sh. Sahib Singh Verma, Union Labour Minister said that the objective of the Conference is not only creating smooth employer –employee relations, and the prevention of Industrial Disputes, but also the creation of such employment opportunities which ameliorate the conditions of workmen, to create an environment wherein the workman be not a burden on the employer but an asset. To encourage such employment and to make it possible, we need encourage and sustain the growth of FDI in India. The logic is simple. Greater FDI would lead to the establishment of corporate houses, which would in turn greatly accentuate employment generation. He further said that just as the UAE is rich in oil, so too is India blessed with manpower. Through this Conference, he inteneded to attract and invite more and more FDI and see more and more corporate houses being set up in India, that would help the abundant manpower, which lies massively unemployed today. More important than smooth employer- employee relations and the prevention of Industrial Disputes is the creation of employment opportunities. I see no reason why there should be any Industrial disputes, as corporate managers would then run after the workmen and not the other way round. He identified certain areas where improvements could be made :

1. Lack of an Exit policy.
2. Complex Procedural Laws
3. Bureaucratic hassles
4. Restrictions on Foreign Investment
5. Higher Incidence of Corporate Taxation
6. Rigid labour laws