For decades, India’s labour laws were trapped in a maze of 29 legislations, many drafted in 1940’s, a different economic era. Complex, overlapping, and often contradictory, they created confusion for employers and uncertainty for workers. The result was litigation, inspector raj, compliance headaches, and millions of workers left outside real protection.

The Government of India’s decision to consolidate them into four modern labour codes was not cosmetic reform. It was structural reform.

The four pillars, the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, mark the most comprehensive labour overhaul since Independence.

Contrary to the fear-mongering, these reforms strengthen workers, not weaken them.

Here I explain:

Ending Wage Manipulation

The Code on Wages, 2019 brings in a uniform definition of wages. For years, companies artificially lowered basic pay and inflated allowances to reduce provident fund and gratuity payouts. Workers lost in the long term.

Now, basic salary must form at least 50 percent of total remuneration. This means:

Yes, monthly take-home may slightly adjust due to higher PF deductions. But long-term financial security improves. Reform is about sustainability, not short-term optics.

More importantly, the concept of a national floor wage ensures that no worker is pushed below a statutory threshold. This is not dilution. This is expansion.

For the first time in Indian history, gig and platform workers are formally recognised under the Code on Social Security, 2020.

Millions who power food delivery apps, ride-hailing services, and digital platforms were invisible in labour law. No defined safety net. No structured welfare framework.

Now, the law provides for social security schemes for gig and unorganised workers. It creates the foundation for insurance, pension-like models, and welfare funds.

How can this be anti-labour? This is modern labour inclusion.

Under earlier laws, fixed-term employees (Contract Workers) often missed out on long-term benefits. Now, gratuity can be paid on a pro-rata basis even without completing five years.

That is a major structural correction.

Labour reform should not only protect permanent workers. It must adapt to modern employment patterns. India’s economy is evolving. The law must evolve with it.

Workplace Safety and Documentation

The Occupational Safety Code,2020 consolidates 13 separate laws into one clear framework.

Mandatory appointment letters.
 Defined working conditions.
 Stronger health and safety compliance.
 Registration of inter-state migrant workers.

For migrant labour, often the most exploited, formal registration creates accountability. It reduces anonymity and strengthens enforceability.

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 has drawn criticism, particularly regarding the revision of layoff and retrenchment thresholds. However, a proper comparison with the earlier regime under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 is necessary before arriving at conclusions.

Earlier Position Under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947

The consequence was regulatory rigidity. Many enterprises deliberately kept workforce strength below 100 to avoid falling within the statutory threshold. This created:

The threshold for prior government approval has now been revised to 300 workers.

What has changed:

Earlier, multiplicity of trade unions within the same establishment often led to fragmented representation and industrial paralysis.

The new Code introduces:

This creates clarity in collective bargaining.

Instead of multiple unions making competing demands, a structured negotiation mechanism is provided.

This reduces industrial deadlock.

Industrial stability reduces strikes driven by procedural ambiguity. Structured recognition of negotiating unions reduces factional conflict. Clear thresholds reduce compliance uncertainty.

Stability promotes investment. Investment promotes expansion. Expansion generates employment.

Industrial predictability is not anti-worker. It is pro-employment.

A rigid system that discourages job creation cannot be described as pro-labour merely because it is restrictive. True worker empowerment lies in combining protection with opportunity.

The Industrial Relations Code attempts precisely that balance.

India cannot compete globally with a labour regime designed for the 1970s.

We are in the era of:

The old framework excluded gig workers, over-regulated compliant firms, and left the informal sector largely untouched.

The new codes expand coverage, formalise employment, standardise compliance, and reduce inspector-driven arbitrariness.

That is reform with intent.

The Politics of Fear vs Policy of Reform

Every structural reform face resistance. It is easier to mobilise fear than to explain change.

But let us be clear. These codes do not abolish worker rights. They modernise them. They expand social security. They bring transparency to wage structures. They strengthen retirement savings. They formalise migrant labour.

The choice before India was simple.

Remain trapped in outdated legal fragmentation, or move toward a unified, modern labour ecosystem.

The Government chose reform.

In the long run, workers will benefit not from slogans, but from structure. Labour empowerment is not achieved by preserving chaos. It is achieved by building clarity, inclusion, and long-term security.

India’s Labour Codes are not perfect. No reform ever is. But they are necessary. They are forward-looking. This is not an anti-worker policy. This is pro-worker reform for a modern economy.