Temporary Employment and Social Inequality in India : Anatomization of Predicament in Relation to the Inter-State Migrant Workers

The twentieth century has witnessed a new branch of jurisprudence known as ‘industrial jurisprudence’. This branch of law modified the traditional law relating to master and servant and had cut down the old theory of ‘laissez faire’ based upon the ‘freedom of contract’ because that theory was found wanting for the development of harmonious and amicable relations between employers and employees. Industrial contracts have been in many respects substituted by a standard form of the statutory contract through legislation and judicial interpretation. While taking a holistic view of this present century, the industrial society all over the world has been moving from ‘contract’ to ‘status’ and this status is a politico-socio-economic-juristic status. When the emphasis is laid on Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, India balances the paradoxical situation such as ‘social security’8 for the labourers through legislating various industrial and welfare labour legislations. Thus, these legislations are projected as ‘social security shock absorbers’ and not ‘social inequality shock absorbers’. Globalisation has reproduced gender inequalities by concentrating inequality among women workers. However, at the same time, Indian labour laws are numerous, complicated and ambiguous that they promote litigation rather than resolving problems related to temporary employment and inequality. An all-embracing view on labour law reforms is needed, to address the needs of inter-state contract workers of the construction industry and to eradicate the social inequality in India. The authors suggest recommendations for level-heading the ambiguous pieces of labour legislation with adequate social equality and income security for the workers