ABSTRACT
The growing interest in Indian employment relations has been primarily sparked by the economic reforms programmes pursued by the Indian government since 1991. These economic policies of liberalization, privatisation and globalization marked a new beginning in the trajectory of Indian economy which hitherto was a typified as an inward looking, socialist-style economy based on an import substitution strategy. The trade union movement in India has so far been able to slow down the pace of labour market reforms and has at times been able to secure some concessions from the national government. The coverage of employment laws and those relating to employment security remains low across the Indian labour market. In the post-independence period, successive governments in India have largely continued with the industrial relations (IR) framework inherited from the British colonial administration. The interventionist nature of the state is codified in the key IR law in India namely, the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947.
