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Labour rights in Naya Pakistan
Millions of people in Pakistan are working on measly wages and in unsafe conditions
The writer is an academic and researcher. He is also the author of Development, Poverty, and Power in Pakistan, available from Routledge
Labour exploitation remains a major cause for the glaring disparities that we see around the world, including in our own country. Millions of people in Pakistan are working on measly wages and in unsafe conditions. Despite lip service by those in power, labour abuses remain rife across our urban and rural areas.
The dismal ground realities confronting our poor workforce are caused by a paucity of state regulatory capacity and the perpetuation of market-led policies which give precedent to profit maximisation by local and transnational business interests, instead of ensuring provision of decent work opportunities for the working classes.
The government has recommended devising a mechanism under which all labourers in the informal sector are registered and provided socio-economic protection. Photo by Zofeen T. Ebrahim/File
ISLAMABAD: The government has recommended devising a mechanism under which all labourers in the informal sector – including those in the agriculture sector - are registered and provided socio-economic protection.
The proposal came in its ‘Sympathy for Workers Report’ launched under social welfare Ehsaas Programme on May Day.
To this end, Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD) is setting up a dedicated ‘Mazdoor Ka Ehsaas’ (MKE) Unit to continuously work for the welfare of informal, agriculture sector workers as well as workers in the formal sector who are not protected by current social security measures.