On 27-28^th March 2006 with the help of ILO a meeting was organised for researchers involved in Labour and Management oriented research in India. The 35 participants who attended the meeting, coming from different parts of India, were either representatives of some institutes or individual researchers. The purpose of organising the meeting was to discuss the future topics for research by the researchers that would enable getting a rightful share for the workers in the formal/informal sector or urban/rural areas in the booming Indian economy.

During the 2 days the main discussion focused on how in a globalised world the areas of labour research had to undergo transition from generalized areas like basic needs, wages, labour laws, IMF/WB policies, structural adjustment and globalisation covering privatization, deregulation, labour flexibility etc.  to newly emerging areas  like government macro economic policies, capacity building programmes for the stake holders in the labour market, social security, corporate social responsibility, job creation, etc.

It was on 28^th March 2006, that is the second day of the seminar that the Indian Labour Research Network (ILRN) was formed. Since then the network is slowly and steadily gaining strength with some of the reputed organisation in the network getting together and deciding on joint research studies. There has also been regular exchange and dissemination of information among the members of the network.

The coordination of the activities will be on rotation basis and Maniben Kara Institute accepted to take up this responsibility for the initial period of a year or so. It will be followed by the Ambekar Institute for Labour Studies.