India’s Plantations Labour Act and Inherent Structural Anomalies

Abstract The article critically revisits the Plantations Labour Act (1951) and its amendments and discusses threads of anomalies inherent in its making over the years. While doing so, it discusses conflicts about the domain of plantation sector, institutional exclusion and components of social costs. It explores alternative policy options to reduce social welfare cost components of the sector so as to improve cost competitiveness of the industry along with protecting labour interest.