Roorkee (The Hawk): The 62ndAnnual Labour Economic Conference by the Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE) wasinaugurated on April 11, 2022 at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITRoorkee). A former ILO Official, a researcher of International repute Professor J Krishnamurty delivered the keynote address in the inaugural function.In his keynote address, Professor Krishnamurtyspoke about the pioneers of Indian Labour Studies who have contributed to discourse on labour and employment issues. Around 500 delegates including a number of distinguished scholars, policy-makers, trade unionists and other professionals from all over India and many from other parts of the world, are participating in the Conference physically. Over the course of three days around 250 paper presentations on the three themes of the Conference will be made in 37 technical sessions and deliberate on issues concerning labour economics in 8 panel discussions. It is expected that these deliberations connect the various tracks of dialogue and serve as policy inputs for government in the region.
The conference was graced by the presence ProfessorAjit Kumar Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, Uttarakhand; Deepak Nayyar, President, Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE) and Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi; Alakh N. Sharma, President, 62nd ISLE Conference Editor, Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Professor and Director, Institute for Human Development; J. Krishnamurty, Former Professor, Delhi School of Economics and Former Senior Economists, ILO; S.P. Singh and Falguni Patrnaik, Professors at Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee, Uttarakhand and Organising Secretary and Associate organizing Secretary respectively, 62nd ISLE Conference; Amit Basole, Head, Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University, Bangalore; DilipRatha, Head, KNOMAD and Lead Economist, Migration and Remittances Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, The World Bank; ShahraRazavi, Director, Social Protection Department, International LabourOrganisation, Geneva; MeherPudumjee, Chairperson, Thermax Ltd., Pune; Abhijit Sen, Former Member, Planning Commission, Government of India; Kamala Sankaran, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi; Indira Hirway, Director and Professor of Economics Centre For Development Alternatives (CFDA), Ahmedabad; K.P. Kannan, Fellow and Former Director, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum; Mariko Ouchi, Senior Technical Specialist on Social Protection Decent Work Technical Team, ILO, South Asia; JeemolUnni, Professor at Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad; T. Sundararaman, Adjunct Professor, JIPMER International School of Public Health, Pondicherry; Dipak Kumar Singh, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary and In-charge of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of Bihar; Santosh Mehrotra, Visiting Professor, Centre for Development, Bath University, UK and Dagmar Walter, Director, ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team for South Asia and Country Office for India shared their insight.
Prof. Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director IIT Roorkee, pointed out,” IIT Roorkee is happy to host the annual conference on Labour Economics which will discuss important issues such as employment, migration, development, protection of the interests of the labour work force post the pandemic etc”
Professor Alakh N. Sharma, the President of the 62nd ISLE Conference in his presidential address spoke about “the challenge of youth unemployment in India particularly that if educated youth unemployment which has increased significantly over the period of time and now stands at 25%. India needs to take effective policy measures to address the issue in coming years if it has to meet the SDG target of providing decent employment to all by 2030”
President of the Society, Professor Deepak Nayyar, said that “the Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE) is a professional association of academics, researchers, and other stakeholders interested in the area of labour, employment and development. The Society was founded in 1957 to promote scientific studies and disseminate knowledge on labour markets, employment, employment relations and related themes.
