'I'm Not For It': Karnataka Labour Minister Says 10-Hour Workday Proposal Came From Centre

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh Lad on Monday clarified that the proposal to extend daily working hours from nine to ten in the state had come from the central government and not the Congress-led Karnataka government.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Lad said he does not support the proposal in its current form and that a final decision would be taken only after discussions with all concerned parties.


“To me, right now it doesn’t look good, as people are already working for nine hours," Lad said. “Prima facie, I am not for it," he added.

He further explained that the idea for the proposal came from the Central government. “I will call every stakeholder, unions and talk to them and take their opinions as the proposal has come from central government," he said.

Lad’s comments come amid mounting opposition to the proposal, which has triggered concern among workers’ groups, especially in the IT and IT-enabled services sectors.

The Karnataka government had drew attention after circulating a draft amendment to the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961, which proposes increasing the daily work limit to 10 hours, while keeping the weekly cap at 48 hours.

The proposed changes would also allow work shifts of up to 12 hours per day including overtime, and raise the quarterly overtime limit from 50 to 144 hours.

The draft was shared with stakeholders during a meeting held by the state’s Labour Department last week. While the state has maintained that the weekly limit remains unchanged, unions have strongly criticised the move, raising concerns about employee wellbeing, fatigue, and work-life balance.

Just last week after the proposal was made public, Lad had issued a formal clarification supporting the draft. At the time, he had stated that the proposed 10-hour workday includes a one-hour break, meaning actual work time would still be nine hours per day.