Q1 (a).Trace the evolution of Industrial relations in India. Ans.

A study of modern industrial relations in India can be made in three

distinct phases. The first phase can be considered to have commenced from about the middle of the nineteenth century and ended by the end of the First World War. The second phase comprises the period thereafter till the attainment of the independence in 1947, and the third phase represents the postindependence era.
First Phase :During the first phase, the British Government in India

was largely interested in enforcing penalties for breach of contract and in regulating the conditions of work with a view to minimising the competitive advantages of indigenous employers against the British employers. A series of legislative measures were adopted during the latter half of the nineteenth century, which can be the beginning of industrial relations in India. The close of the First World War gave a new twist to the labour policy, as it created certain social, economic and political conditions, which raised new hopes among people for a new social order. There was intense labour unrest because workers\u2019 earnings did not keep pace with the rising prices and with their aspirations. The establishment of ILO in 1919 greatly influenced the labour legislation and Industrial relations policy in India. The emergence of trade unions in India, particularly the formation of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) in 1920 was another significant event in the history of industrial relations in our country.
Second Phase :The Policy after the First World War related to

improvement in the working conditions and provision of social security benefits. It was a period of boom for employers. With rising prices, their profits went up enormously. The wages of workers, however did not keep pace with this tendency. Their economic distress brought together and an organised working class movement began in the country resulting strikes or lockouts. During this period, as a result of ILO influence, various laws were enacted i.e. Workmen\u2019s Compensation Act (1923), the Trade Unions Act (1926) and the Trade Disputes Act (1917). During the Second war, employers made enormous profits. The workers demanded a share in them. Bonus and dearness allowance were granted to them but as money wages did not increase in proportion to the rise in prices. The years immediately following the war were the most disturbed years from the point of view of the pattern of Industrial relations in India. In 1946 the Industrial Employment (Standing orders) Act and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 provided for the settlement of disputes.

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOUR LAWS(Page 2) Name : (Amresh Anjan)

Third Phase:Immediately after Independence, in the interests of

the national economy, it was considered necessary to put a stop to strikes/ lockouts that interrupted production. A tripartite conference was, therefore convened in 1947, at which the industrial Truce Resolution was adopted, giving paramount importance to the maintenance of industrial peace. The Minimum Wages Act, The Factories Act and the Employees State Insurance Act were all enacted in 1948. When India became independent in 1947, industrial scene was subjected to considerable amount of chaos and confusion. Industrial unrest and shattered worker management relations have been prevalent everywhere. Govt. has emerged as an arbitrator between management and workers. It is in this context that the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 deserves importance. During the second five year plan period, certain norms, mechanisms and practices were evolved which evolved which formulate the need based minimum wage, wage boards, guidelines on rationalisation, code of discipline, code of conduct, scheme for workers participation in management.
Q1 (b) Define Industrial Relations and examine its nature, scope and objectives. Ans.The term \u2018Industrial Relations\u2019 comprises \u2018Industry\u2019 and \u2018relations\u2019.

\u201cIndustry\u201d means \u201cany productive activity in which an individual is engaged\u201d and \u201crelations\u201d means \u201cthe relations that exist in the industry between the employer and his workmen.\u201d
V.Agnihotri defines \u201c the term industrial relations explains the relationship

between employees and management which stem directly or indirectly from union-employer relationship\u201d.
According to C.B. Kumar \u201c Industrial relations are broadly concerned with

bargaining between employers and trade union on wages and other terms of employment\u201d.
Nature or features of Industrial Relations:

1. Industrial relations are the relations, which are the outcome of the \u201cemployment relationship\u201d in an industrial enterprise. Without the existence of two parties, the employer and the workmen such relationship cannot exist. 2. This relationship emphasises on the process of accommodations whereby the parties involved develop skills and methods of adjusting to and cooperating with each other. 3. The government/State evolves, influences and shapes industrial relations with the help of laws, rules, agreements, awards of the courts, and emphasis on usages, customs, traditions, implementations of its policies and interference through executive and judicial machinery. 4. Every industrial relations system creates a complex of rules and regulations to govern the work place, and work community with the main purpose of maintaining harmonious relations between labour and management by solving their problems through collective bargaining.
Scope and objectives of industrial relations:

The concept of industrial relations has a very wide meaning and connotation. In the narrow sense, it means that the employer, employee relationship confines itself to the relationship that emerges out of the day- to day association of the management and the labour. In its wider sense, industrial relations include the relationship between an employee and an employer in the course of the running of an industry and may project itself to spheres, which may transgress to the areas of quality control, marketing, price fixation and disposition of profits among others. Objectives of Industrial Relations: i) To safeguard the interest of labour as well as management by securing the highest level of mutual understanding and goodwill between all sections in industry which take in the process of production. ii) To avoid industrial conflicts, and develop harmonious relations, which is essential for productive efficiency of workers and industrial progress in a country. iii) To raise productivity to a higher level in an era of full employment by lessening the tendency of higher labour turnover and frequent absenteeism. iv) To bring down strikes, lockouts and gheraos by providing better and reasonable wages and improved living conditions, and fringe benefits to the workers. v) To bring about government control over such units and plants, which are running at losses or where production has to be regulated in public interest.
Q2 (b).Comment on the future of Industrial Relations in India. Ans.FUTURE OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IN INDIA 1.The first is the issue of strengthening collective bargaining by trying to

determine a sole bargaining agent for negotiation. The state of Maharashtra has already passed a law for the creation of a sole bargaining agency in every unit and industry. Collective Bargaining is advocated where the parties involved have a fuller understanding. This will help to arrive at a speedier settlement of disputes between themselves.
2.The second issue relates to the gaps that are occurring as a result of

the variations that occur in Central and State legislation as far as labour matters are concerned. In India, labour falls under the Concurrent List though NCL has made a recommendation for forming a common

labour code, which is yet to be adopted. Adoption of this recommendation will go a long way in solving some of the problems that Indias legislation process in facing.
3.Another issue is that of workers participation in management. India

has already experienced working of many forms of worker participation schemes but none of them seems to have made any headway. The reasons for the failure of these schemes need to be probed into. Its strategic importance extends beyond the limited frontiers of union- management relationship and overlaps with the future prospects for Indian democracy on one hand, and the basic concepts and assumptions of economic development on the other. The set of strategic choices must be made in the midst of economic and political difficulties that the country is undergoing.