Final Year Project
Outline
Research Question: What effect will different legal and socially responsible approaches have on various construction companies in India?
The below situation was for an example (but has to be included with proper analysis), pls do not forget to include other social implications. Also, critically include environmental and economical effects on the company, environment, government and other stakeholders.
Social
India will become the world’s third-largest Construction Market by 2025 and thereby the Infrastructure Sector is a key driver for the Indian Economy. Especially the road sector profits from the Government’s efforts and initiated policies to ensure time-bound creation of a world-class infrastructure in the country. This pace is critical for a country like country where developmental issues are one of the top concerns, but I believe that progression without an ethical back-drop to it isn’t fair. Despite India being the first country in the world to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandatory, following an amendment to the Companies Act, 2013 in April 2014, companies in India hesitate to follow the Corporate Social Responsibility guidelines allocated by the government. One of the most significant reason to this is the need of the labour. They are ready to work in preferential circumstances.
India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subject to forced labour and sex trafficking. Forced labour concerns an estimated 20 to 65 million citizens and constitutes India’s largest trafficking problem; men, women, and children in debt bondage are forced to work in industries such as brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, and embroidery factories. A common characteristic of bonded labour is the use of physical and sexual violence as coercive measures. Will practicing similar operations lead to a higher labour turnover ratio in future? Can this lead to immobility? Will the government implement firmer laws to cut down discrimination? How will this affect private companies? These will be some of the main arguments I’ll be addressing in the report.
The COVID-19 pandemic represented an unprecedented shock to labour markets and the need of the hour was an absolute priority to maintain a sense of attachment of workers to their previous jobs, by preventing closings of previously viable businesses. Coronavirus has taught worker that distance matters, the sudden displacement of migrant labour lead to far-reaching impact on the Indian economy and states being prepared to deal with the consequences of behavioural changes forced by the lockdown. Will these behavioural changes result in stronger trade unions? What was the reason some workforces abused the crisis? Can this pandemic lead to a significant reduction in long-distance migration?
COVID-19 has had devastating effects on construction workers in India, most of whom belong to marginalized castes. So CSR and government policies for workers intros industry become critical. The shameful failure of the indian government to address the destructive effects of a lockdown on migrant laborers is a case in point. As is the discriminatory effects of the NRC and CAA on Muslim construction workers, which the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights described as ‘fundamentally discriminatory in nature’.
