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Govt urged to review labour laws

Last updated on: July 02, 2009 13:20 IST

With jobs vanishing by the thousands as a fall-out of the economic downturn, the Economic Survey on Wednesday asked the government to review labour laws for pushing growth in employee-intensive sectors.

"...there is an imperative need to facilitate the growth of labour-intensive industries, especially by reviewing labour laws and labour market regulations," said the pre-Budget Survey that was tabled in Parliament.

It said the manufacturing employment trends in the country are "not-so-encouraging".

"Besides, the growth in many industries is constrained by the acute scarcity\depleting reserves of important raw materials like coal, iron ore, natural gas and forestry resources," it said.

The Survey said industrial sector recorded a growth of 2.4 per cent in the last fiscal against 8.5 per cent in the year ago period. "The pace of slowdown accelerated in the second half of 2008-09 with the sudden worsening of the international financial situation and global economic outlook," it said.

The Survey said only two out of 17 industrial groups - beverages and tobacco and machinery - grew at robust rates during 2008-09 despite high base.

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