'Shram Shakti Niti 2025' extremely anti-worker: Citing 'Manusmriti', 'Rajdharma' and 'Shramadharma' highly reprehensible and regressive, says Labour minister

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister V Sivankutty has said that the new draft labour policy "Shram Shakti Niti 2025" released by the Union Labour Ministry is extremely anti-worker. The Minister of General Education and Labour has alleged that the new policy is taking away the rights of the states. He also stated that the Kerala government is strongly opposed to this policy, which completely rejects constitutional labour rights and the concept of social justice.

"It is highly reprehensible and regressive to cite ancient texts like 'Manusmriti' and concepts like 'Rajdharma' and 'Shramadharma' as the basis for a policy document that talks about workers' rights instead of the Indian Constitution. This is a hidden attempt to reduce workers from being 'citizens with rights' to being 'submissive slaves'. Bringing back such concepts that justify caste-based division of labour is against social justice.

Labour and labour welfare are subjects under the Concurrent List of the Constitution. However, this draft policy completely ridicules the states. This will lead to ranking states through mechanisms like the 'Labor and Employment Policy Evaluation Index' and imposing the pro-corporate policies of the Centre. This is a blatant violation of federal principles.

The policy is completely silent on the most basic needs of workers, such as job security, decent minimum wages and regular employment. The ministry's responsibility to check whether labour laws are being followed is being reduced to the pseudonym of "employer" to weaken the enforcement mechanisms. This will only help increase labour exploitation.

Kerala is a model for the country in protecting the welfare and rights of workers. This anti-labour and unconstitutional draft policy of the central government should be withdrawn immediately. The Kerala government will strongly demand that a new policy be formulated after discussing with all the parties concerned,' Minister V Sivankutty clarified.