{"id":72995,"date":"2026-05-05T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=72995"},"modified":"2026-05-05T18:03:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:33:51","slug":"west-bengal-tea-workers-ilo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/05-05-2026\/west-bengal-tea-workers-ilo","title":{"rendered":"West Bengal Tea Workers Invoke ILO Article 24"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tea plantation workers in West Bengal have raised issues of<strong> labour rights violations <\/strong>with the International Labour Organization (ILO) by invoking Article<strong> 24 of the provisions.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Concerns of Workers:<\/strong> They have alleged systemic labour rights violations despite India\u2019s ratified conventions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They cite starvation deaths, severe malnutrition, non-payment of wages and dues, lack of minimum wage and discrimination against women and Adivasi workers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Article 24 <\/strong>enables industrial associations of employers or workers to file a representation against any member state<strong> that has failed to secure the effective observance of a ratified ILO convention within its jurisdiction.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A three-member tripartite committee of the Governing Bod<\/strong>y may be set up to examine the representation and the government\u2019s response.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The report that the committee submits to the Governing Body sets out the <strong>legal and practical aspects of the case, <\/strong>examines the information submitted and concludes with recommendations.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>International Labour Standards<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Since 1919, the International Labour Organization<\/strong> has maintained and developed a system of<strong> international labour standards.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>International labour standards are <strong>legal instruments drawn up by the ILO&#8217;s constituents (governments, employers and workers) <\/strong>and setting out basic principles and rights at work.\u00a0 They are either:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Conventions and Protocols,<\/strong> which are<strong> legally binding<\/strong> international treaties that may be ratified by member States, or recommendations, which serve as non-binding guidelines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Once a standard is adopted,<\/strong> member States are required <strong>under article 19(6) <\/strong>of the ILO Constitution, to submit it to their competent authority <strong>within a period of twelve months for consideration.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If it is ratified, a Convention generally comes into force for that country one year after the date of ratification.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ratifying countries undertake to apply the Convention in national law<\/strong> and practice and to report on its application at regular intervals.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Technical assistance is provided by the ILO, if necessary.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Representation and complaint procedures<\/strong> can be initiated against countries for violations of a Convention that they have ratified.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>International Labour Organisation (ILO)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is an United Nations Agency established in<strong> 1919<\/strong> as part of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, and it became the <strong>first specialized agency of the UN in 1946.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India became a founding member of the ILO in <strong>1919<\/strong>, even before gaining independence.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It has <strong>187 Member states.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It <strong>sets labour standards, develops policies <\/strong>and devises programmes promoting decent work for all women and men.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is the <strong>only tripartite U.N. agency <\/strong>that brings together governments, employers and workers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is headquartered in<strong>Geneva, Switzerland.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Labour Laws in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Government of India has announced the implementation of the <strong>four Labour Codes <\/strong>with effect from 2025 rationalising 29 existing labour laws:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Code on Wages, 2019: <\/strong>Regulates wages, bonus payments, and equal remuneration.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Industrial Relations Code, 2020:<\/strong> Deals with trade unions, employment conditions, layoffs, and dispute resolution.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Code on Social Security, 2020: <\/strong>Merges laws on provident funds, pensions, insurance, maternity benefits, and gratuity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020: <\/strong>Consolidates regulations on safety, working hours, health, and welfare.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Labour laws in India <strong>apply to both organized and unorganized sectors,<\/strong> although enforcement in the unorganized sector remains a challenge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enforcement agencies include the <strong>Ministry of Labour and Employment, state labour departments, and specific boards (e.g., EPFO, ESIC).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/governance\/west-bengal-tea-workers-invoke-ilo-article-24-allege-systemic-labour-rights-violations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Tea plantation workers in West Bengal have raised issues of labour rights violations with the International Labour Organization (ILO) by invoking Article 24 of the provisions. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> About <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Concerns of Workers: They have alleged systemic labour rights violations despite India\u2019s ratified conventions. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> They cite starvation deaths, severe malnutrition, non-payment of wages and dues, lack of minimum wage and discrimination against women and Adivasi workers. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Article 24 enables industrial associations of employers or workers to file a representation against any member state that has failed to secure the effective observance of a ratified ILO convention within its jurisdiction. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/05-05-2026\/west-bengal-tea-workers-ilo \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72995"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72998,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72995\/revisions\/72998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}