Karnataka plans to end labour exemption to tech firms

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

There are about 1.2 million men and 600,000 women working in the 8,785 information technology and biotechnology companies, according to the official data.

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The labour department has cited instances of arbitrary termination, ID blocking, mass retrenchment, layoffs and extended hours of work as well as sexual harassment at workplace as a reason for revisiting the relaxation.
Karnataka has exempted the IT, ITeS, business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing firms from the applicability of labour regulations, recognising them as a sunrise industry, to accelerate their growth in Bengaluru and rest of the state.
The government had, by notification on January 25, 2014, exempted the companies from The Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Act, 1946 and extended it for another five years on May 25, 2019.
The relaxation will cease in May next year, unless it is renewed for a further period. If the concession ceases, the regulations will apply to tech firms, enabling labour officials to police retrenchment, closure and layoffs in the IT sector, just as in any other sector.

Labour minister Santosh Lad told ET, “The exemptions to the tech sector have been around for many years now. A proposal to not extend it came before me in 2016 also, when I was the labour minister. I have come across instances of unfair termination, and such employees find it very difficult to get another job.”
There had also been instances of sexual harassment at workplace for