⁍ India’s parliament on Wednesday passed ‘historic’ labour laws that the government says help workers and business alike.

---

⁍ Experts said the laws exempt tens of thousands of smaller firms, and rob workers of a right to strike or receive benefits.

---

⁍ Almost 90 percent of India’s workers operate in the informal sector with no security, low pay and little or no benefits.

---

– Almost 90% of India’s workers operate in the informal sector with no security, low pay, and little or no benefits, reports the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The country’s parliament on Wednesday passed “historic” labor laws that the government says help workers and business alike, but activists fear a loss of labor rights in a push for profits. Experts said the laws— aimed at protecting workers and streamlining labyrinthine regulation—exempt tens of thousands of smaller firms, and rob workers of a right to strike or receive benefits. Almost 90% of India’s workers operate in the informal sector with no security, low pay, and little or no benefits. The new laws, in the works for years, carry measures to meet the new challenge of COVID-19, which has seen millions lose jobs under lockdown and forced many to walk thousands of miles home where they struggled to find work. The laws usher in a range of worker rights, such as health checks, home visits, emergency aid, and written terms. India’s labor minister described the ‘historic’ bills as a ‘milestone in labor welfare’ in India, whose rapid economic growth was built on the back of a fast- expanding labor force working with limited rights. Red tape, weak infrastructure, and poor governance have held back growth, firms say, while advocates for worker rights say greater fairness is needed if India is to take a place among developed economies. “The new laws are substantially tilted towards business,” says a labor economist.