Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour launched the official logo of Labour Bureau, an apex national-level organisation in the field of labour statistics, which is attached to the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The Labour Bureau performs significant functions, such as labour intelligence, research, monitoring/evaluation and training.
The new logo visually communicates the vision and objectives of the Bureau, and represents the Bureau as a data-based organisation working with data pertaining to workers and work. It reflects the three goals of the Labour Bureau, that is, accuracy, validity and reliability.
The blue cogwheel, at the centre of the logo, brings out the fact that the Bureau works for blue-collared workers. The graph within the wheel in the tricolours of the national flag, reflects the actual truth, that is, the fact that in the real world, the graph does not always keep climbing up, but has ups and downs. The wheat ears, on the outer circle, signify the fruits of labour, mainly agricultural labour.
At the launch, the Labour Minister drew attention to the fact that the Labour Bureau was established as a Directorate of Cost of Living at Shimla almost seven decades back, for the purpose of conducting family budget enquiries and compiling the cost of living index for important centres in the country in a uniform manner.
When there arose a need for more wide-ranging labour statistics that would help formulate the labour policy, the Directorate of Cost of Living was renamed as the Labour Bureau and additional functions were bestowed on the same. Since then, the Labour Bureau has been collecting, compiling, analysing and distributing labour-related statistics at a national level.
Emphasising on the significance of database in policy making, Gangwar encouraged the optimal use of information technology to increase the Bureau’s outreach by way of total digitalisation of its processes and use of data analytics and artificial intelligence in its daily operations.
The Minister called for full and complete digitisation of the Bureau and a move towards paperless working.
The Labour Bureau is serves as a storehouse of important economic indicators, including consumer price index for industrial workers, agriculture and rural labour data for industrial, agricultural and rural labourers; wage rate indices and data on employment/ unemployment, industrial relations, socio-economic conditions in the organised and unorganised sector of industry, among other significant information.
