India’s employment laws are among the most stringent in the world. They hurt not only domestic and international businesses, but also the workers they are designed to protect
On the outskirts of New Delhi in the industrial town of Noida, a manufacturing unit of Italian auto-component maker Oerlikon Graziano had been struggling with labour unrest for several months. On 23 September things spiralled out of control. Around 120 of the company’s recently sacked employees violently forced their way onto the premises.
In the dramatic chain of events that followed, Lalit Kishore Choudhary, the company’s 44-year-old Indian CEO, hurriedly ended a meeting and tried to escape by jumping from a first floor balcony. He received a sharp blow to his head with a metal rod and died on the spot. Many of his colleagues suffered serious injuries as the agitated mob went on a rampage.
The incident manifested the most gruesome face of management-worker relationships in a country where antiquated and investor-unfriendly labour laws hurt not only industrial progress, but also the majority of workers.
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