Pranab vows to protect jobs in India; criticises US protectionism

The government will protect the interests of labour even if it meant a reduction in wages and salaries, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee told a national labour conference in the capital today.

''Jobs must be protected even if it means some reduction in compensation," said the minister, who is holding the additional charge of finance.

He also criticised the protectionist measures built into President Obama's multi-billion dollar bailout package for the US economy, saying, ''We are already witnessing worrying signs of protectionism in the world's biggest economy. We need to argue against this trend at the international fora."

The Us measure will affect the nearly 100,000 Indians among the 163,000 that had applied for non-immigrant skilled workers visa (H1-B) in FY'09. The US has capped the number of H1-B visas at 65,000 a year.

In the wake of the global financial meltdown, Mukherjee said, ''We will need to press for trade and aid flows to developing countries and look at regional cooperation to strengthen defences against such crises".

''The government's approach of inclusive growth is the critical component of its strategy to ensure an early recovery from the current crisis," Mukherjee said while urging the people to share the pain of the current economic crisis.

''The government of India has been conscious of the magnitude of this still-deepening crisis and has been taking steps to mitigate its impact on the Indian society," he said. ''We must display the spirit of solidarity by sharing equally the pain of this crisis," he added.

Mukherjee's comments follow reports of large-scale job losses in sectors like mining, textiles, gems and jewellery, automobiles and IT.

Labour minister Oscar Fernandes, however, said the government was yet to undertake a study on layoffs due to the economic slowdown, although the Labour Bureau in Chandigarh has conducted a study on the job situation in these sectors.

''According to this study, job loss of half a million persons has been found and average earnings have declined by 3.45 per cent during October-December, 2008," Fernandes told the Rajya Sabha.

He said the estimated loss of 500,000 jobs did not reflect the real position across the country as it was only a sample survey, but added that the government was addressing the issues in right earnest.