Indian Influence on BRICS Labour & Employment Policies Goes Strong

NEW DELHI: Mr Bandaru Dattatreya, the Union Minister of State (IC) Labour and  Employment on the sidelines of BRICS Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting that concluded under the Indian Presidency.  "Over the course of two days fruitful discussions were held on areas of common labour and employment issues. The BRICS Labour and Employment Ministerial Declaration has been adopted at the end of these discussions," informed Mr Dattatreya.

India is encouraged by the presence of International Organisations in this meeting of BRICS Labour Ministers. India is also extremely happy that as a presidency initiative and in the best tradition oftripartism and social dialogue ,India  could associate BRICS national social partners to this forum. In avery constructive special session issues of employment generation, sustainable development, social security and decent work which are relevant for India were raised. The Social partners, both from Employers’ side as well as the workers’ side actively participated and made constructive interventions. The Lead Organisations from the Employers’ and employees’ side , i.e. Council of Indian Employers and Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh coordinated with their counterparts from BRICS Nations, had discussions on 26^th November to formulate their views.

"BRICS comprising of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are five major emerging economies comprising 43% of the world population, 37% of the world GDP and 17% of the world trade. BRICS began their association primarily with discussions on economic issues of mutual interest. Overtime, the areas of cooperation have widened to include topical global issues," the minister said. 

Commenting on India's perspective, Mr Datatreya also added, "For India, BRICS is about practical cooperation. Indian Presidency is working with a five pronged approach for cooperation. Its about Institutionalising cooperation; implementing and integrating our previous decisions and commitments while innovating new areas of cooperation and finally ensuring the continuity of these initiatives."

The BRICS Ministerial Declaration is action oriented statement. Strong interventions and actions have been proposed in the areas concerning employment generation, social security and formalization of labour markets leading to inclusive and sustainable development.

 Member countries agreed to pursue bi-lateral social security agreements amongst the BRICS member states. They  also acknowledged the need to develop a network of lead labour research and training institutions in BRICS member states for undertaking joint research and training activities, capacity building of various stakeholders and exchange of information in areas of expertise.