Jyoti Basu gives PM labour pains

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is keen on making India's Labour Laws flexible. But his allies, the Left parties, are protesting any move on the issue and leading the bandwagon is former chief minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu is against it.

Labour market fleibility is Prime Minister's most-quoted mantra, especially when he's overseas.

But now, Manmohan Singh's ideas on Labour reforms are being contested by none other than the grand old man of the Left

"The Labour market reforms proposals is erroneous and do not stand up to scrutiny," Basu says.

The government's logic is that if labour laws are made flexible, a textile unit would employ more people. But the logic clearly has not cut much ice with the red brigade led by Basu.

The 92-year-old Left stalwart, known for his pragmatism towards the Congress, is in a very different form and is hitting out against the UPA with hard economic logic

According to him, the growth in exports is not related to Labour market flexibilities and that jobless growth does not help boost labour demand in the long term"

What is interesting to note in the Left-UPA's latest spat is that the views of a government body like the Planning Commission, which has said that the issue of Labour reforms should be looked at, is not unanimous.

Sources tell IBN that some members of the Commission are not buying the government's logic

For the Government, the Labour reforms are not possible without a consensus from the allies.

So as it tries to sort itself out, the Left with a little help from those inside the Government would want to make sure the UPA goes slow on the reforms.