Ministry of Labour and Employment

Agency overview
Jurisdiction	Government of India
Headquarters	Rafi Marg, New Delhi
Annual budget	₹7,700 crore (US$960 million) (2018–19 est.)[1]
Ministers responsible	Bhupender Yadav, Cabinet Minister Rameswar Teli, Minister of State
Agency executive	Arti Ahuja IAS
Website	labour.gov.in

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.

Role and Working

Functions

The thrust areas of the ministry are:^[4]

• 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 ^[5] 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

Organisation

^[2]

Attached offices

• Directorate General of Employment ^[6]
• Office of Chief Labour Commissioner

Subordinate offices

• Directorate General of Mines Safety
• Welfare Commission

Statutory Bodies

• Employees State Insurance Corporation
• Employees Provident Fund Organisation
• National Institute for Career Services (Erstwhile CIRTES)
• V. V. Giri National Labour Institute
• Central Board for Workers Education

Autonomous bodies

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

Labour Ministers of India

No	Portrait	Name	Term of office			Prime Minister	Party
1		Jagjivan Ram	15 August 1947	13 May 1952	4 years, 272 days	Jawaharlal Nehru	Indian National Congress
2		V. V. Giri	13 May 1952	7 September 1954	2 years, 117 days
3		Khandubhai Kasanji Desai	10 September 1954	16 April 1957	2 years, 221 days
4		Gulzarilal Nanda	17 April 1957	10 April 1962	4 years, 359 days
5		Jai Sukh Lal Hathi	16 April 1962	15 November 1962	213 days
(4)		Gulzarilal Nanda	1 September 1963	24 January 1964	145 days
6		Damodaram Sanjivayya	24 January 1964	24 January 1966	2 years, 0 days	Jawaharlal Nehru Lal Bahadur Shastri
(1)		Jagjivan Ram	24 January 1966	13 March 1967	1 year, 48 days	Indira Gandhi
(5)		Jai Sukh Lal Hathi	13 March 1967	15 November 1969	2 years, 247 days
(1)		Jagjivan Ram	15 November 1969	18 February 1970	95 days
(6)		Damodaram Sanjivayya	18 February 1970	18 March 1971	1 year, 28 days
7		Ravindra Varma	26 March 1977	28 July 1979	2 years, 124 days	Morarji Desai	Janata Party
8		Fazlur Rahman	30 July 1979	14 January 1980	168 days	Charan Singh	Janata Party (Secular)
9		Janaki Ballabh Patnaik	16 January 1980	7 June 1980	143 days	Indira Gandhi	Indian National Congress
10		N. D. Tiwari	19 October 1980	8 August 1981	293 days
11		Bhagwat Jha Azad (Independent Charge)	15 January 1982	2 September 1982	230 days
12		Veerendra Patil	2 September 1982	31 December 1984	2 years, 120 days	Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi
13		T. Anjaiah (Independent Charge)	31 December 1984	20 January 1986	1 year, 20 days	Rajiv Gandhi
14		P. A. Sangma (Independent Charge)	20 September 1986	6 February 1988	1 year, 139 days
15		Makhan Lal Fotedar	6 February 1988	14 February 1988	8 days
16		Jagdish Tytler (Independent Charge)	14 February 1988	25 June 1988	132 days
17		Bindeshwari Dubey	25 June 1988	2 December 1989	1 year, 160 days
18		Ram Vilas Paswan	6 December 1989	10 November 1989	339 days	V. P. Singh	Janata Dal
19		Chandra Shekhar	10 November 1990	21 June 1991	223 days	Chandra Shekhar	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
20		Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy (Independent Charge)	21 June 1991	30 July 1991	39 days	P. V. Narasimha Rao	Indian National Congress
21		P. V. Narasimha Rao	30 July 1991	10 July 1992	346 days
(14)		P. A. Sangma (Independent Charge till 10-Feb-1995)	10 July 1992	15 September 1995	3 years, 67 days
22		G. Venkatswamy	15 September 1995	16 May 1996	244 days
23		Atal Bihari Vajpayee	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	16 days	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Bharatiya Janata Party
24		Balwant Singh Ramoowalia	1 June 1996	29 June 1996	28 days	H. D. Deve Gowda	Janata Dal
25		M. Arunachalam	29 June 1996	21 April 1997	296 days		Tamil Maanila Congress
26		I. K. Gujral	21 April 1997	1 May 1997	10 days	I. K. Gujral	Janata Dal
(25)		M. Arunachalam	1 May 1997	9 June 1997	39 days		Tamil Maanila Congress
27		M. P. Veerendra Kumar (Independent Charge)	9 June 1997	19 March 1998	283 days		Janata Dal
28		Satyanarayan Jatiya	19 March 1998	13 October 1999	1 year, 208 days	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Bharatiya Janata Party
(23)		Atal Bihari Vajpayee	13 October 1999	22 November 1999	40 days
(28)		Satyanarayan Jatiya	22 November 1999	1 September 2001	1 year, 283 days
29		Sharad Yadav	1 September 2001	1 July 2002	303 days		Janata Dal (United)
30		Sahib Singh Verma	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days		Bharatiya Janata Party
31		Sis Ram Ola	23 May 2004	27 November 2004	188 days	Manmohan Singh	Indian National Congress
32		K. Chandrashekar Rao	27 November 2004	24 August 2006	1 year, 270 days		Bharat Rashtra Samithi
33		Manmohan Singh	24 August 2006	24 October 2006	61 days		Indian National Congress
34		Oscar Fernandes (Independent Charge)	24 October 2006	3 March 2009	2 years, 130 days
35		G. K. Vasan (Independent Charge)	3 March 2009	22 May 2009	80 days
36		Mallikarjun Kharge	28 May 2009	17 June 2013	4 years, 20 days
37		Sis Ram Ola	17 June 2013	15 Dec 2013	181 days
38		Oscar Fernandes	15 December 2013	26 May 2014	162 days
39		Narendra Singh Tomar	26 May 2014	9 November 2014	167 days	Narendra Modi	Bharatiya Janata Party
40		Bandaru Dattatreya (Independent Charge)	9 November 2014	3 September 2017	2 years, 298 days
41		Santosh Gangwar (Independent Charge)	3 September 2017	7 July 2021	3 years, 307 days
42		Bhupender Yadav	7 July 2021	Incumbent	1 year, 275 days

Ministers of State

Ministers of State in the Ministry of Labour and Employment

Minister of state	Portrait	Political party		Term		Years
Vishnudeo Sai		Bharatiya Janata Party		26 May 2014	9 November 2014	167 days
Rameswar Teli				7 July 2021	Incumbent	1 year, 275 days