Japan enacts controversial law to accept foreign workers
Tokyo, Dec 8 : Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition early Saturday rammed through legislation to bring more blue-collar foreign workers into the country, in a controversial move to address chronic labour shortages.
The bill was enacted after the upper house gave approval despite a raft of criticism by opposition parties following its passage through the lower house in late November.
Both chambers are controlled by Abe's ruling camp. Under the new system, the government plans to bring in as many as 345,000 foreign workers in construction, food services, nursing and other designated sectors for five years.
"We aim at starting it in April next year because we need to swiftly launch the new system in order to deal with the current labour shortage," Abe told parliament on Thursday.
But opposition parties claimed that the law fails to address the potential impact on Japanese society of new foreign labour, and does not protect foreign workers' rights.
In a bid to block its passage, opposition parties submitted censure motions against Abe and Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita, but they were easily rejected by the ruling bloc.
The law allows foreign nationals with skills in sectors facing particularly severe shortages to obtain five-year visas, which would not allow them to bring their families.
Foreign workers in those fields who hold stronger qualifications and pass a more difficult Japanese language test will be able to obtain a visa that can be extended indefinitely, eventually leading to residency, and will be able to bring over family.
But there have been questions about whether an influx of foreign workers will depress wages, how the workers will be incorporated into Japan's social security system, and worries about exploitation of migrant labour. Many of Japan's low-skilled foreign workers are in the country under a so-called "technical training" programme, which has repeatedly faced allegations of abuse.
"We should not create a new system hastily without reviewing the technical training programme in which problems are mounting," Yoshifu Arita, an opposition lawmaker, told parliament.
Businesses have long lobbied for looser immigration rules, saying they struggle to find workers in a country where unemployment hovers around 2.5 per cent. The chronic labour shortages are only worsening as Japan's ageing and shrinking population means a declining pool of workers.
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KERC increases electricity tariffs for commercial, industrial consumers
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission has reduced electricity tariffs for agricultural pump sets for 2025–26 from the earlier uniform rate of Rs 8.30 per unit to a range of Rs 6.57 to Rs 7.79 per unit across the state.
However, the Commission has increased tariffs for select commercial and industrial consumers by 10 paise to a maximum of 95 paise per unit.
As per the Commission’s order, the revised tariffs are as follows: LT-3a (low-tension commercial) consumers will pay a fixed charge of Rs 235 per kW and an energy charge of Rs 7.10 per unit, while LT-5 (industrial) consumers will be charged Rs 165 per HP as fixed charges and Rs 5.20 per unit as energy charges.
In the high-tension segment, HT-2a (industrial) consumers will pay a demand charge of Rs 365 per kVA and an energy charge of Rs 6.70 per unit, while HT-2b (commercial) consumers will pay Rs 390 per kVA as demand charges and Rs 6.90 per unit as energy charges.
The revised tariffs were notified in an order issued on March 3 after the Commission allowed a review petition filed by five state-run electricity supply companies—Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, Mangalore Electricity Supply Company, Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation, Hubli Electricity Supply Company and Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company.
The order, however, does not specify the date from which the revised tariffs will come into effect.
In its earlier tariff order dated March 27, 2025, the Commission had fixed the LT-4a tariff uniformly at Rs 8.30 per unit across all ESCOMs.
Consumers in the LT-4a category — primarily agricultural pump set users — are provided free power supply, with the state government reimbursing the cost through subsidies.
According to the order, the petitioners informed the Commission that despite the Government of Karnataka allocating Rs 16,021 crore towards subsidies for free power supply to LT-4a consumers, the ESCOMs would not be able to fully recover the cost of electricity supplied under the earlier tariff structure.
The Commission noted that this would leave distribution companies with no option but to demand payment of the balance amount from farmers, leading to “unexpected and undue hardship” for the agricultural community, which it described as the backbone of the state’s agricultural production.
The reduction in the LT-4a tariff would, however, result in a revenue shortfall of Rs 2,362.47 crore compared to the tariffs considered in the order under review.
Observing that it was necessary to safeguard farmers’ interests while ensuring that ESCOMs reasonably recover costs, the Commission said the review petition could be allowed under the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
The petitioners informed the Commission that the Government of Karnataka has allocated an additional Rs 2,362.47 crore, supplementing the existing budgetary provision of Rs 16,021 crore, recognising that the entire financial burden should not be passed on to consumers and must be partially borne by the government.
The petitioners further stated that they will mobilise Rs 1,107.60 crore through miscellaneous revenue.
“The balance shortfall to be met by increasing tariffs for industrial and commercial consumers, amounting to Rs 1,254.88 crore, appears reasonable and justifiable,” the Commission added.
