PM promises to juice up labour reforms

NEW DELHI: Finally, the much-awaited labour reforms are likely to get a leg-up. Prime Minister A B Vajpayee said on Wednesday that his government ''has decided to vigorously pursue labour reforms''.
Addressing his council on trade and industry, he said preparatory work on labour reforms has been done and indicated that he would be talking to political parties to evolve a consensus.
Vajpayee said the report of the second National Labour Commission was already with the government. "I appeal to all major parties for a consensus on labour reforms, so that we can soon give effect to the consensus through appropriate legislation.
Above all, these long-awaited reforms will create more employment opportunities, thus fulfilling our shared objective of achieving growth with jobs."
With a new finance minister in place — who is widely recognised as the PM’s chosen man — Mr Vajpayee today pitched for a new round of reforms. His speech indicated that he wished to inject a new energy into the process. Apart from labour reforms, the PM listed a number of other steps that the government was contemplating.
Among them he singled out foreign direct investments which he felt needed "to attract larger volumes". He hoped that the expert committee on FDI in the planning commission, headed by Mr N K Singh, would give its recommendations soon. "It is necessary to have an appropriate legal and institutional framework for increasing the flow of FDI," he added to indicate that some laws might be amended for the purpose.