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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This...

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This development, confirmed by high-ranking party insiders, follows the realization that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) effectively ceded its claims on the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to protect the alliance, facilitating a “Mumbai for BJP, Kalyan for Shinde” power-sharing formula. The compromise marks a complete role reversal between the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Both the political parties were in alliance with each other for over 25 years before 2017 civic polls. Back then the BJP used to get the post of Deputy Mayor while the Shiv Sena always enjoyed the mayor’s position. In 2017 a surging BJP (82 seats) had paused its aggression to support the undivided Shiv Sena (84 seats), preferring to be out of power in the Corporation to keep the saffron alliance intact. Today, the numbers dictate a different reality. In the recently concluded elections BJP emerged as the single largest party in Mumbai with 89 seats, while the Shinde faction secured 29. Although the Shinde faction acted as the “kingmaker”—pushing the alliance past the majority mark of 114—the sheer numerical gap made their claim to the mayor’s post untenable in the long run. KDMC Factor The catalyst for this truce lies 40 kilometers north of Mumbai in Kalyan-Dombivali, a region considered the impregnable fortress of Eknath Shinde and his son, MP Shrikant Shinde. While the BJP performed exceptionally well in KDMC, winning 50 seats compared to the Shinde faction’s 53, the lotter for the reservation of mayor’s post in KDMC turned the tables decisively in favor of Shiv Sena there. In the lottery, the KDMC mayor’ post went to be reserved for the Scheduled Tribe candidate. The BJP doesn’t have any such candidate among elected corporatros in KDMC. This cleared the way for Shiv Sena. Also, the Shiv Sena tied hands with the MNS in the corporation effectively weakening the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s alliance with them. Party insiders suggest that once it became clear the BJP would not pursue the KDMC Mayor’s chair—effectively acknowledging it as Shinde’s fiefdom—he agreed to scale down his demands in the capital. “We have practically no hope of installing a BJP Mayor in Kalyan-Dombivali without shattering the alliance locally,” a Mumbai BJP secretary admitted and added, “Letting the KDMC become Shinde’s home turf is the price for securing the Mumbai Mayor’s bungalow for a BJP corporator for the first time in history.” The formal elections for the Mayoral posts are scheduled for later this month. While the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)—led by the Shiv Sena (UBT)—has vowed to field candidates, the arithmetic heavily favors the ruling alliance. For Eknath Shinde, accepting the Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai is a tactical retreat. It allows him to consolidate his power in the MMR belt (Thane and Kalyan) while remaining a partner in Mumbai’s governance. For the BJP, this is a crowning moment; after playing second fiddle in the BMC for decades, they are poised to finally install their own “First Citizen” of Mumbai.

Manufacturing Menace

Updated: Nov 12, 2024

Manufacturing Menace

Every two in five workers employed in the formal manufacturing sector were on contract in Financial Year 2023, thus showing an increasing trend of contract-based employment in the country’s labour force. According to the additional Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), in 2023, a total of 14.61 million workers were employed by 2,53,000 factories across India. Of them, 5.95 million workers (40.7 per cent) were on contract the highest ever as compared to only 40.2 per cent in the preceding financial year. These workers are distinct from regular employees who have permanent or long-term employment status with social security benefits. Most of the contract labourers are underpaid and are being exploited in various ways. No government or political party has shown any interest to intervene in this grim issue.


Contract workers are employed by an industrial establishment through contractual agreements for a specified period or task. In the pre-Covid year, the share of contract workers stood at 38.4 per cent — only 5.02 million of the total 13.05 million workers were employed through contractors. Besides, data also showed that among the remaining directly employed workers in these factories, the share of women stagnated at 18.42 per cent.


But the government policies and the various amendments in to the Labour Law has made things more difficult for the working class. Centre as well as all the state governments including Maharashtra are taking advantage of the new laws. Employer friendly legislations are allowing the loot of the labourers.


As per the new labour laws notified on September 29, the Industrial Relations (IR) Code, 2020, companies can now convert permanent jobs into fixed-term contracts. The new guidelines have also permitted companies to hire contract workers directly through a fixed-term contract, which initially required companies to hire contract workers through a contractor. As mentioned above, according to the new labour law code of 2020, companies can omit the process of hiring fixed-term contract workers through a contractor. This will cut the middle man process, which was seen as an expensive and cumbersome process. According to industry experts, by eliminating the dependence of companies on contractors to hire fixed-term contract workers, permanent jobs in the market will be looked down upon. Under this enactment, contract workers will not only receive equal compensations as received by their permanent counterparts but also companies will hold the authority to hand out contractual jobs to their existing permanent workforce.


The amendments made by the government in the Act are favourable for employers. Employees are the most affected part of the economy, especially after the coronavirus outbreak. Most of the workers and labourers are at the receiving end. As no option is left before them, helpless employees have been pushed in a lurch.

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