Unions will push back on labour reform in India

Subject

Indian government's plans for labour reform.

Significance

Several trade unions earlier this month held protests over labour codes introduced into parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Unemployment reached a 45-year high in 2017-18. Modi, who recently won a second term, came to power in 2014 promising to create 10 million jobs per year, focusing especially on manufacturing.

Impacts

• The government will aim to expand work training, hoping to upskill the population.
• Critics will press the government to bolster employment by prioritising investment stimuli.
• Rising numbers of educated but jobless youths could express their frustrations through political violence.