I find the men in orange safety jackets and helmets very courageous. Atop a 50-feet bridge, where there is barely any space you will find them going about their job nonchalantly while dealing with a blowing wind. At any hour of the day or night, you will see them working in shifts on various projects. Deep inside the ocean, you will see them drilling from the barge, and on top of the mountain, you will see them hanging from a rope and working. From underground construction to breaking the mountains like Western Ghat and the Himalayas… they march ahead, chiselling the India growth story, inch by inch, every day. They neither worry about seasons nor gigantic stones that block them. But that doesn’t mean the tragedies don’t happen. In one of the very rare incidents, 41 men got stuck into an under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi for 17 days. Finally, they were rescued by joint operations of 8 agencies including the Army and NDRF, through a three-feet-wide pipe this week. While it was a great moment that all of them came out safely and the government also rewarded them, I strongly believe it is high time policymakers, India Inc, and specifically decision makers like CFOs and HR heads, look at the workers very seriously. Because they are the brave ones who are building India and India Inc.
India and Infrastructure
The drilling of storied mountains in the Himalayas shows the determined vision of India when it comes to infrastructure development. India has crafted a hugely ambitious National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), which includes mammoth projects from Bharatmala to Sagarmala. In most Indian cities you will see construction work going on almost everywhere. This infrastructure boost was needed for India for decades. Economists, finance analysts and business leaders have always pitched for spending high on infrastructure to boost the economy at large. The government too has upped the ante in the infrastructure segment, and from roads to waterways to runaways, construction is in full swing.
In the last few years, the road and whole infrastructure sector has been put on fast track and India is building 40 km of road every day, which is the fastest in the world.
Currently, there are 9,000 projects under construction in India, which cost around Rs 108 lakh crore. Last year India built 10,457 km of roads. Recently, rating agency Crisil said that India’s infrastructure is going to double to Rs 143 lakh crore from 2024 to 2030 compared to the last six years. But we are doing very little for the brave workers, who are the actual executors of India’s infra story.
The workers who got stuck in the tunnel have highlighted the decades-old burning issue that nothing much is done for them. It certainly puts the Labour Ministry, Road and Highways Ministry, construction companies and India Inc in a spot. While we all are praising infrastructure progress, this case highlighted the dark side of the construction industry. Are the leading companies of India Inc from the construction industry which bag such large contracts really following all safety norms for workers? Breaking the mountains in the Himalayas will have its consequences, were they really prepared? The construction of roads and buildings is still a labour intensive industry.
The cost of such projects runs into billions of dollars. Often the government speaks of high costs due to raw materials but there are fewer discussions about the workers.
Indian labour laws
Do companies pay well to their workers? Specifically when their jobs involve high risk. What kinds of safety measures do companies follow for workers on their sites? I remember when the lockdown was announced the companies shut down their sites and no one took responsibility for the labourers, who had no alternative but to walk hundreds of miles to reach their homes in the hinterland. There are hardly any facilities on the construction site for workers. Instead, the industry always cries about labour shortage.
Of course, there are labour laws and many companies follow them too. But there is a great divide between the workers on rolls and those supplied by a contractor. In the last few years, the government has reshaped labour laws. It has launched portals like Eshram and Shram Suvidha. The government’s mantra Satyamev Jayate to Shramev Jayate has been quite apt. It has added 4 labour codes which demolish the foundations of British Raj labour laws.
While this is quite motivating, the challenge is that approximately 50 crore people fall under the labour category, out of which 90% are from the unorganised sector. Though the Labour Code defines that all workers will benefit from labour laws, I have my own doubts. As currently the workers who are not on contract are often daily wage earners. Under the new labour laws, workers should get the minimum wages and basic facilities. But will the daily wage earners get it? The life and earnings of daily wage earners are in the hands of contractors. Companies generally don’t take responsibility here. Workers on contracts get some benefits because of the law and also labour unions.
Apart from the routine policies, labour laws are an integral part of not just India Inc but also the small and medium businesses. Specifically for the finance and HR departments (CFO and HR), awareness and compliance with labour laws is quite critical.
Social security is a major concern for most Indians, even those working in large and blue-chip companies. But for labourers, it is almost non-existent.
A veteran CFO once told me that most of the time we CFOs look at shareholder profit. But we should and must pay attention to every employee working for the company, irrespective of whether he is on payroll, contract or non-contract. Let’s hope we follow that.
(Editor’s Note is a column written by Amol Dethe, Editor, ET CFO. Click here to read more of his articles exploring several buzzing topics.)
