Ministry of Labour and Employment (India)

The Ministry of Labour & Employment is one of the oldest and most important Ministries of the Government of India. This is an India's federal ministry which is responsible for enforcement of labour laws in general and legislations related to a worker's social security.^[2] The Ministry aims to create a healthy work environment for higher production and productivity and to develop and coordinate vocational skill training and employment.^[2] However, Skill Development responsibilities, such as Industrial Training and Apprenticeship responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship from 9 November 2014.^[3] The Ministry launched the National Career Service portal on 20 July 2015 to help bridge the gap between job providers and job seekers. Jagjivan Ram was the first Labour Minister of independent India, serving in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet from 1947 to 1952.^[4]

Ministry of Labour and Employment

Branch of Government of India
Ministry of Labour and Employment
Agency overview
Jurisdiction	Government of India
Headquarters	Rafi Marg, New Delhi
Annual budget	1.5 Billion USD or ₹13,221.73 crore (2023–24 est.)[1]
Ministers responsible	Mansukh Mandaviya, Cabinet Minister Shobha Karandlaje, Minister of State
Agency executive	Sumita Dawra IAS
Website	labour.gov.in

Role and Working

Functions

The thrust areas of the ministry are:^[5]

• Labour Policy and legislation
• Safety, health and welfare of labour
• Social security of labour
• Policy relating to special target groups such as women and child labour
• Industrial relations and enforcement of labour laws in the Central sphere
• Adjudication of industrial disputes through Central Government Industrial Tribunals cum Labour Courts and National Industrial Tribunals
• Workers' Education
• Labour and Employment Statistics

The results of recession^[6] on employment in the eight selected sectors textiles including apparels, leather, metals, automobiles, gems & jewellery, transport, IT/BPO and handloom / powerloom were monitored starting from Oct–Dec 2008. The overall employment in the eight selected sectors covered in the quarterly surveys has increased by 10.66 lakh (0.16%). In IT/BPO sector the increase in the employment is maximum (6.9 lakh) during the year 2009–10.

• Emigration of Labour for employment abroad
• Employment services and vocational training
• Administration of Central Labour & Employment Services
• International co-operation in labour and employment matters
• The ministry of Labor and Employment Govt. Of India has Introduce E-Shram Card For UN- organize Sector Employees Social And Economical improvement During The COVID-19 Pandemic Session on 1 August 2021.

Organisation

^[2]

Attached offices

• Directorate General of Employment^[7]
• Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC)(Central)
• Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institute (DGFASLI)
• Labour Bureau

Subordinate offices

• Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS)
• Labour Welfare Organisations (LWOs)

Statutory/Autonomous Organisations

• Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC)
• Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)
• V. V. Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI)
• Dattopant Thengadi National Board for Workers Education and Development (DTNBWED)^[8]

Autonomous bodies

• Central Government Industrial Tribunals and Labour Courts
• Central Labour Institute

Cabinet Ministers

• Note:
  • MoS (I/C) – Minister of State (Independent Charge)
  • MoS – Minister of State/Minister without cabinet rank

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
Minister of Labour (1947–1957)
		Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986) MCA for Bihar	15 August 1947	13 May 1952	4 years, 272 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I		Jawaharlal Nehru
		V. V. Giri (1894–1980) MP for Pathapatnam	13 May 1952	7 September 1954	2 years, 117 days		Nehru II
		Khandubhai Kasanji Desai (1898–1975) MP for Mehsana West	10 September 1954	16 April 1957	2 years, 218 days
Minister of Labour and Employment (1957–1966)
		Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha	17 April 1957	10 April 1962	4 years, 358 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru III		Jawaharlal Nehru
		Jaisukhlal Hathi (1909–1982) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat (MoS)	16 April 1962	15 November 1962	213 days		Nehru IV
		Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha	1 September 1963	24 January 1964	145 days
		Damodaram Sanjivayya (1921–1972) Rajya Sabha MP for Andhra Pradesh	24 January 1964	27 May 1964	2 years, 0 days
			27 May 1964	9 June 1964			Nanda I		Gulzarilal Nanda
			9 June 1964	11 January 1966			Shastri		Lal Bahadur Shastri
			11 January 1966	24 January 1966			Nanda II		Gulzarilal Nanda
Minister of Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation (1966–1970)
		Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986) MP for Sasaram	24 January 1966	13 March 1967	1 year, 48 days	Indian National Congress	Indira I		Indira Gandhi
		Jaisukhlal Hathi (1909–1982) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	13 March 1967	15 November 1969	2 years, 247 days		Indira II
		Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986) MP for Sasaram	15 November 1969	18 February 1970	95 days	Indian National Congress (R)
Minister of Labour and Rehabilitation (1970–1973)
		Damodaram Sanjivayya (1921–1972) Rajya Sabha MP for Andhra Pradesh	18 February 1970	18 March 1971	1 year, 28 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira II		Indira Gandhi
		Raghunath Keshav Khadilkar (1905–1979) MP for Baramati (MoS)	18 March 1971	5 February 1973	1 year, 324 days		Indira III
		K. V. Raghunatha Reddy (1924–2002) Rajya Sabha MP for Andhra Pradesh (MoS)	5 February 1973	9 November 1973	273 days
Minister of Labour (1973–1982)
		K. V. Raghunatha Reddy (1924–2002) Rajya Sabha MP for Andhra Pradesh (MoS)	9 November 1973	24 March 1977	3 years, 135 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III		Indira Gandhi
		Ravindra Varma (1925–2006) MP for Ranchi	26 March 1977	28 July 1979	2 years, 124 days	Janata Party	Desai		Morarji Desai
		Fazlur Rahman MP for Bettiah	30 July 1979	14 January 1980	168 days	Janata Party (Secular)	Charan		Charan Singh
		Janaki Ballabh Patnaik (1927–2015) MP for Cuttack	16 January 1980	7 June 1980	143 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
		Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Medak (Prime Minister)	8 June 1980	19 October 1981	1 year, 133 days
		N. D. Tiwari (1925–2018) MP for Nainital	19 October 1980	15 January 1982	1 year, 88 days
		Bhagwat Jha Azad (1922–2011) MP for Bhagalpur (MoS, I/C)	15 January 1982	2 September 1982	230 days
Minister of Labour and Rehabilitation (1982–1984)
		Veerendra Patil (1924–1997) MP for Bagalkot	2 September 1982	31 October 1984	2 years, 115 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
			4 November 1984	31 December 1984			Rajiv I		Rajiv Gandhi
Minister of Labour (1984–2004)
		T. Anjaiah (1919–1986) MP for Secunderabad (MoS, I/C)	31 December 1984	20 January 1986	1 year, 20 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rajiv II		Rajiv Gandhi
		P. A. Sangma (1947–2016) MP for Tura (MoS, I/C)	20 September 1986	6 February 1988	1 year, 139 days
		Makhan Lal Fotedar (1932–2017) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	6 February 1988	14 February 1988	8 days
		Jagdish Tytler (born 1944) MP for Delhi Sadar (MoS, I/C)	14 February 1988	25 June 1988	132 days
		Bindeshwari Dubey (1921–1993) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar	25 June 1988	2 December 1989	1 year, 160 days
		Ram Vilas Paswan (1946–2020) MP for Hajipur	6 December 1989	10 November 1990	339 days	Janata Dal	Vishwanath		Vishwanath Pratap Singh
		Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia (Prime Minister)	21 November 1990	21 June 1991	212 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar		Chandra Shekhar
		Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy (1940–2002) MP for Krishnagiri (MoS, I/C)	21 June 1991	30 July 1991	39 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rao		P. V. Narasimha Rao
		P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal (Prime Minister)	30 July 1991	10 July 1992	346 days
		P. A. Sangma (1947–2016) MP for Tura (MoS, I/C until 10 February 1995)	10 July 1992	15 September 1995	3 years, 67 days
		G. Venkatswamy (1929–2014) MP for Peddapalli	15 September 1995	16 May 1996	244 days
		Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow (Prime Minister)	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	16 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee I		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
		Balwant Singh Ramoowalia (born 1942) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	1 June 1996	29 June 1996	28 days	Independent	Deve Gowda		H. D. Deve Gowda
		M. Arunachalam (1944–2004) MP for Tenkasi	29 June 1996	21 April 1997	296 days	Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)
		Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar (Prime Minister)	21 April 1997	1 May 1997	10 days	Janata Dal	Gujral		Inder Kumar Gujral
		M. Arunachalam (1944–2004) MP for Tenkasi	1 May 1997	9 June 1997	39 days	Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)
		M. P. Veerendra Kumar (1936–2020) MP for Kozhikode (MoS, I/C)	9 June 1997	19 March 1998	283 days	Janata Dal
		Satyanarayan Jatiya (born 1946) MP for Ujjain	19 March 1998	13 October 1999	1 year, 208 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee II		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
		Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow (Prime Minister)	13 October 1999	22 November 1999	40 days		Vajpayee III
		Satyanarayan Jatiya (born 1946) MP for Ujjain	22 November 1999	1 September 2001	1 year, 283 days
		Sharad Yadav (1947–2023) MP for Madhepura	1 September 2001	1 July 2002	303 days	Janata Dal (United)
		Sahib Singh Verma (1943–2007) MP for Outer Delhi	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
Minister of Labour and Employment (2004–present)
		Sis Ram Ola (1927–2013) MP for Jhunjhunu	23 May 2004	27 November 2004	188 days	Indian National Congress	Manmohan I		Manmohan Singh
		K. Chandrashekar Rao (born 1954) MP for Karimnagar	27 November 2004	24 August 2006	1 year, 270 days	Telangana Rashtra Samithi
		Manmohan Singh (born 1932) Rajya Sabha MP for Assam (Prime Minister)	24 August 2006	24 October 2006	61 days	Indian National Congress
		Oscar Fernandes (1941–2021) Rajya Sabha MP for Karnataka (MoS, I/C)	24 October 2006	3 March 2009	2 years, 130 days
		G. K. Vasan (born 1964) Rajya Sabha MP for Tamil Nadu (MoS, I/C)	3 March 2009	22 May 2009	80 days
		Mallikarjun Kharge (born 1942) MP for Gulbarga	28 May 2009	17 June 2013	4 years, 20 days		Manmohan II
		Sis Ram Ola (1927–2013) MP for Jhunjhunu	17 June 2013	15 December 2013 (died in office)	181 days
		Oscar Fernandes (1941–2021) Rajya Sabha MP for Karnataka	15 December 2013	26 May 2014	162 days
		Narendra Singh Tomar (born 1957) MP for Gwalior	27 May 2014	9 November 2014	166 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I		Narendra Modi
		Bandaru Dattatreya (born 1947) MP for Secunderabad (MoS, I/C)	9 November 2014	3 September 2017	2 years, 298 days
		Santosh Kumar Gangwar (born 1948) MP for Bareilly (MoS, I/C)	3 September 2017	30 May 2019	3 years, 307 days
			31 May 2019	7 July 2021			Modi II
		Bhupender Yadav (born 1969) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan	7 July 2021	9 June 2024	2 years, 338 days
		Mansukh Mandaviya (born 1972) MP for Porbandar	10 June 2024	Incumbent	319 days		Modi III

Ministers of State

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
Minister of State of Labour and Employment
		Jaisukhlal Hathi (1909–1982) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	4 September 1963	24 January 1964	142 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru IV		Jawaharlal Nehru
		Kotha Raghuramaiah (1912–1979) MP for Guntur	9 June 1964	13 June 1964	4 days	Indian National Congress	Shastri		Lal Bahadur Shastri
Minister of State of Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation
		Jagannath Rao (1909–?) MP for Chatrapur	24 January 1966	14 February 1966	21 days	Indian National Congress	Indira I		Indira Gandhi
		Lalit Narayan Mishra (1923–1975) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar	13 March 1967	14 November 1967	246 days	Indian National Congress	Indira II
		Bhagwat Jha Azad (1922–2011) MP for Bhagalpur	14 February 1969	18 March 1971	2 years, 32 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira II
Minister of State of Labour
		Larang Sai (1935–2004) MP for Sarguja	14 August 1977	28 July 1979	1 year, 348 days	Janata Party	Desai		Morarji Desai
		Ram Kripal Sinha (1934–2023) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar
		T. Anjaiah (1919–1986) MP for Secunderabad	8 June 1980	11 October 1980	125 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
		Ram Dulari Sinha (1922–1994) MP for Sheohar	19 October 1980	15 January 1982	1 year, 88 days
Minister of State of Labour and Rehabilitation
		Mohsina Kidwai (born 1932) MP for Meerut	11 September 1982	29 January 1983	140 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
		Dharmavir Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	29 January 1983	31 October 1984	1 year, 323 days
			4 November 1984	22 December 1984			Rajiv I		Rajiv Gandhi
Minister of State of Labour
		Radhakishan Malviya (1943–2013) Rajya Sabha MP for Madhya Pradesh	4 July 1989	2 December 1989	151 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rajiv II		Rajiv Gandhi
		Ram Ji Lal Suman (born 1950) MP for Firozabad	21 November 1990	21 June 1991	212 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar		Chandra Shekhar
		Muni Lall (1938–2019) MP for Sasaram	13 October 1999	1 July 2002	2 years, 261 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee III		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
		Ashok Kumar Pradhan (born 1953) MP for Khurja	1 July 2002	29 January 2003	212 days
		Vijay Goel (born 1954) MP for Chandni Chowk	29 January 2003	24 May 2003	115 days
		Santosh Kumar Gangwar (born 1948) MP for Bareilly	24 May 2003	8 September 2003	107 days
Minister of State of Labour and Employment
		Chandra Sekhar Sahu (born 1950) MP for Berhampur	29 January 2006	24 October 2006	268 days	Indian National Congress	Manmohan I		Manmohan Singh
		Harish Rawat (born 1948) MP for Haridwar	28 May 2009	19 January 2011	1 year, 236 days	Indian National Congress	Manmohan II
		Kodikunnil Suresh (born 1962) MP for Mavelikara	28 October 2012	26 May 2014	1 year, 210 days
		Vishnudeo Sai (born 1964) MP for Raigarh	26 May 2014	9 November 2014	167 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I		Narendra Modi
		Rameswar Teli (born 1970) MP for Dibrugarh	7 July 2021	9 June 2024	2 years, 338 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi II
		Shobha Karandlaje (born 1966) MP for Bangalore North	10 June 2024	Incumbent	319 days		Modi III

See also

• Central Labour Service (CLS)
• Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020