Changing Scenario of Indian Labour and New Labour Codes: A Critical Analysis

The penetrating debate on Indian labour laws obstructing the flexibility of the labour market has taken centre stage in the last two decades, post the period of liberalisation of the economy. With the purpose of rationalizing and simplifying labour laws to facilitate `ease of doing business’, the Indian government has formulated new labour codes, which is considered the most important step towards reforming labour laws in the past three decades. On the other hand, it is emphatically stressed by the labour unions that the Indian labour market continues to be `flexible’ to the advantage of employers, despite the presence of allegedly `constricting labour laws’ and any further dilution of extant labour law framework will adversely affect the working class. In this context, this paper discusses the implications of the current shift in the labour-law paradigm in India, brought out by the new labour codes. The paper also highlights the need for duly addressing the most recent insecurities in the labour market, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, while moving towards a new framework of labour governance, as envisaged by the labour codes.