The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE)

At the dawn of Independence, India committed itself to planned economic development with social justice. Rapid industrial growth set the imperative of industrial peace while social justice entailed that the State must intervene to prevent unbridled exploitation of labour. Both these imperatives necessitated scientific and objective understanding of labour and industrial relations. In this milieu, The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE) was founded in 1957 by a distinguished group of academicians and public men engaged in promoting the study of labour and industrial relations. The group headed by Shri V.V. Giri consisted of Professors Gyan Chand, Baljit Singh, V.B. Singh, S.D. Punekar, Radha Kamal Mukherjee, C.N. Vakil, P.S. Loknathan, G.P. Sinha and others. The Society among others, owes its birth and growth largely to the nurturing care of Shri V.V. Giri, who later became the President of India. Among those who ably assisted Shri Giri in his endeavour was Professor V.B. Singh, who not only edited ISLE’s journal – The Indian Journal of Labour Economics – but remained the kingpin of the organisation till he breathed his last in 1978.

The Society, founded in 1957, was registered under the Registration of Societies Act, 1861 with the Registrar of Societies, Uttar Pradesh. The office of the Society was located in Lucknow University and continued to function from there till 1986, when it was shifted to Patna for administrative convenience. The office was further shifted to Delhi in 1995.