LABOUR BUREAU SHIMLA

Labour Bureau Building; Shimla

• The Royal Commission on Labour in 1931 pointed out the need for systematic collection of labour statistics. 

• It observed that the policy must be built on facts as the uncertainty of facts would lead to confusion and conflict regarding its aim. 

• The Commission recommended the adoption of suitable legislation enabling the Competent Authority to collect and collate information regarding the living, working and socio economic conditions of industrial labour. 

• Accordingly, Government of India constituted & set up the Rau Court of Enquiry in 1940 under the TRADE Disputes Act (1929) to recommend statistical machinery for measuring move ment in prices. 

• The Rau Court of Enquiry recommended compilation and maintenance of Cost of Living Index Numbers for measuring the rate of com pensation to be paid to the workers for the rise in cost of living. 

• This recommendation of the Rau Court of Enquiry (1940) led to setting up of the Directorate of Cost of Living at SHIMLA in 1941 with the objective of conducting Family Budget Enquiries and compiling Cost of Living Index Numbers for important centres in the country on a uniform basis. 

• The Directorate conducted enquiries during the period 1943-45 However, with the increased Government intervention in the field of industrial relations during the Second World War, the need for more systematic collection and processing of labour statistics acquired significance. 

• The result was the enactment of Industrial Statistics Act in 1942 to facilitate collection of statistics on (a) matters relating to factories and (b) certain specified areas of welfare and conditions of labour. 

• Further, arrangements were made for the collection and processing of the data flowing from the administration of important labour Acts, such as the Trade Unions Act, 1926 and the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, etc. 

• The need for more comprehensive labour statistics in the context of formulation of labour policy led to the setting up of the Labour Bureau on October 1, 1946 by rechristening the Directorate of Cost of Living with added functions. 

• The Bureau in Shimla is located near Chaura Maidan in a British period building named "Clear Mont". 

• In the beginning it was working in the premises of ministry of labour, but in 1960 with the efforts of late Gulzari Lal Nanda and Dr. Y.S Parmar the Shimla office of the Bureau was opened. 

• After independence the bureau became purely a body to protect the interest of labour class.