Editorial 1: Building Wealth
Context: In February, the Karnataka state assembly passed amendments to The Factories Act of 1948 to bring flexibility in the labour regime for industry. In April, its neighbouring state, Tamil Nadu also passed similar amendments.
Aim of the Changes:
- The changes carried out, ostensibly aimed to facilitate greater investments by Apple’s vendors such as Foxconn, permit firms to extend the working hours, increase overtime, and allow women to work during night shifts.
- However, following protests by political parties and labour unions, the state government has now unfortunately put the bill on hold.
- The attempts by these two states to ease certain contentious provisions of labour laws come at a time when multinational firms are looking to move their production out of China as part of their China plus one strategy in order to reduce their risks.
Competition faced by India and Role of State Governments
- India faces stiff competition in this regard from countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh. As the country steps up its efforts to attract foreign investments, not only the Union government, but state governments too need to take decisive steps.
- Since state governments exercise control over vexing issues like land and labour, they need to be equally motivated to undertake the necessary regulatory and administrative changes to attract investment.
- In this regard, the competition between these two states to attract foreign investment is welcome. Perhaps on seeing the benefits that flow from higher investment, others will be nudged into following suit.
Tricky terrain of Labour reforms
- However, this episode underlines the tricky terrain of labour reform. While lower wages and flexibility in labour laws improve the attractiveness of India as an investment destination, in societies where labour has little negotiating power, there is a concern of workers being exploited.
Way forward
- Governments would do well to engage in conversations with all stakeholders. Fears of workers need to be assuaged.
- But there can be no debate that both central and state governments need to facilitate the flow of investments in the economy to create jobs for the millions entering the labour force each year.
Editorial 2: Keeping it cool in summer
Context: The tragic death of 14 people in Navi Mumbai last week due to heat stroke in a gathering in open ground is a grave reminder of how quickly heat can kill, even in early summer.
Hotter summer coming our way
- The IMD has predicted a hotter summer this year and we have to take care to prevent as many deaths and heat stroke cases throughout the country as possible. This is doable. Ahmedabad was the first city to start a threshold-based heat action plan (HAP) in 2013, learning from the devastating heat wave of 2010 when, in one week, 800 additional deaths happened in the city.
India and hot weather
- In India, as most people are used to hot weather, we have not paid much attention to heat-related mortality and morbidity. Traditionally, most cultures in India have words to describe heat stroke — such as “loo” in Hindi and other languages.
- People know that it is a serious condition. But, with the country having several other pressing tasks and the weak national commitment to health in general, heat stroke has not been given due importance.
Be prepared for more heat-waves
- The IPCC predicts that over the next 80 years, the climate is going to warm up rapidly and relentlessly.
- The World Meteorological Organization has declared that the past six years have been the hottest globally, indicating the increasing pace of global warming. Hence, it is imperative that all cities, districts and villages in India prepare for heat waves.
Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan
- The Ahmedabad heat action plan which was drawn from such plans developed globally and under guidance from the WHO and WMO includes five components which are pretty simple and any city can implement them.
- The first is the prediction and alert system. The IMD now predicts the temperature level for the next five days in more than 500 cities and all districts of India. The local city or district governments have to take the historical temperatures of the cities and issue a red alert if it is in the 99th percentile, an orange alert if it is in the 95th percentile and above, and a yellow alert if is the 90th percentile and above.
- Once this alert system is in place, the next step is to make people aware of the actions to be taken by them and the government at various levels of alert. During the summer season, especially if there is a red or orange alert, people must carry water while going out and cover their heads or use an umbrella to prevent direct exposure to sunlight.
- Many other simple precautions can prevent heat stoke such as avoiding exertion during peak heat hours, taking frequent rests if you have to work and drinking plenty of water. The health system should be prepared in the summer to quickly and correctly treat heat stroke cases.
- Long-term measures like greening of cities by increasing the tree cover, painting roofs white (cool roofs) to reflect sunlight and heat, and use of low-energy cooling devices such as fans and coolers will also help to reduce the effect of increasing heat.
- Finally, each city and district should appoint a “heat officer” who will ensure that the heat action plan is prepared and implemented. We have to measure the impact of the heat on mortality and morbidity. The best way to do that is to capture and analyse all-cause mortality and hospitalization in every city and correlate it with daily maximum and minimum temperatures.
- The annual review of heat action plans will tell what action is taken and what needs to be done.
Conclusion
- The plan has to be revisited every year and revised when new features are required to protect people. Such simple measures, if implemented systematically, will protect many people from heat wave-related mortality and morbidity.