Intervention by India

(presented by Shri Shankar Aggarwal)

323rd Session of Governing Body, 12-27 March, 2015

GB.323/INS/3

Third Item on the Agenda of Institutional Section

Preparation for the evaluation of the impact of the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation by the 105th Session of the International Labour Conference (2016)

Mr. Chairperson,

At the outset, we would like to compliment  the Office for such a comprehensive document for preparation for the evaluation of the impact of the Social Justice Declaration. We reaffirm our commitment to the ILO’s constitutional mandate and to place full and productive employment and decent work at the centre of economic and social policies.

The issue of decent work for all is a global concern especially in today's atmosphere of economic fragility and increased vulnerability and this reality must be factored into any action plans whether it is Post 2015 sustainable Development Agenda or the agenda of any Multilateral Organisation. We would like to recall the discussions in the 322 GB in the INS2 and INS 3 agenda items on the subject. We appreciate ILO’s approach  to draw linkages between Social Justice Declaration and activities related to the ILO’s centenary, the 2017 discussions of Fundamental principles and rights at Work (FPRW) and the Post 2015 sustainable development agenda so as to give a broader coverage to the objectives of Social Justice Declaration.

India has always been a supporter and promoter of decent work. Reduction of inequality and providing social protection to all has taken as a step forward for inclusive growth. While considering the issue of transition from informality to formality, the focus  must be on the principles of decent work rather than on the process or the focus on the sector. In a recent initiative, Government of India has undertaken initiative to include construction and contract workers under Universal Account Number(UAN) for portability of provident fund benefit thereby bringing them in the formal social security cover. In his recent Budget speech to the Parliament,  the Finance Minister has stated Government's resolve for a universal social security cover.   We are committed to an inclusive growth strategy with  a targeted approach for inclusion of women and other marginalised groups in the workforce for achieving the desired objectives.

We acknowledge the importance of knowledge sharing and good practices, peer reviews and coordinating positions in international forums towards achieving the objectives of Social Justice Declaration. We expect that the questionnaire would cover all four strategic objectives of the Declaration and efforts taken by member countries and ILO. With respect to para 16, we feel that the impact of Social Justice declaration should be seen in the light of  DWCP programmes in various countries which has involvement of all tripartite partners with ILO. We support ASPAG statement that the evaluation of recurrent discussions should be included in the scope of this exercise. The Decent Work policy paradigm of ILO has withstood the test of time and has seamlessly integrated itself into the planning process of various countries however, we believe that scope of evaluation should be strictly limited to assessment of various mechanisms put in place for the implementation of the Declaration and should not, in any way be extended to cover the national initiatives by the governments in their sovereign capacity. India is committed to the doctrine of ILO’s ‘Decent Work’ and ‘inclusive growth’ remains the underlying theme of all our government efforts.

We support ILO’s strategic action plan as given in Section IV for the evaluation process of the impact of Social Justice Declaration and thereby preparing a road map for future activities. The 2016 evaluation would serve as a progress card on the achieved outcomes of the Declaration and at the same time it would provide us a way forward for attaining social and economic growth in a constantly changing environment.

We take note of the approach and procedure to be adopted for evaluation of the Declaration as stated in section II and section III of the document. We welcome the idea of giving opportunity to Multilateral Organizations in  the panel discussion in the Conference Committee considering the evaluation as stated in para 23 to understand the impact that the Declaration had on their body of work and priorities . At the same time we feel that the recommendations and contributions to be made by these organisations should be focused on the very basic objectives of the Declaration and within the defined scope. We would like to state that ILO must adhere to its core principles and objectives of promoting labour issues while working amidst other international organisation and forum and it is important to guard against the fine print of collaborations  for the possibility of extraneous conditionalities creeping in.

The present day ‘World of Work’ is characterised by ‘demographic and technological changes’, ‘environmental concerns vis-a-vis development challenges’ and the primary goal of overcoming inequalities. We do believe that ILO’s guidelines and technical expertise would ensure both economic growth and social progress to all its member countries.

Thank You

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