Chandigarh, Dec 3: India’s new Labour Codes have sparked loud street protests, but quiet reading reveals a very different picture. What the critics call “anti-worker” is, in fact, the biggest extension of worker rights in decades.
Start with the basics: minimum wage for all. This single shift brings farm workers, domestic workers, drivers, loaders, delivery agents and construction labourers under a safety net they never had. For millions who worked without a contract, even a written appointment letter becomes a form of dignity.
The Codes also do what India had delayed for too long—recognise the gig worker. Platforms like Uber, Swiggy, Zomato and Ola will finally contribute to their social security. That means insurance, maternity benefits and protection against accidents. The digital E-Shram ID brings informal labourers into the welfare net with portability across states.
Women benefit significantly too. Equal pay is now enforceable. Safe night shifts become a reality. Crèche facilities can’t be ignored. And maternity cover extends to more workers than ever before.
Occupational safety rules, annual free health check-ups, stronger grievance systems and timelines for industrial tribunals all point to one direction: the state is centering the worker.
The biggest myth repeated in protests is that Hours and Hire-and-Fire will worsen. But the weekly limit of 48 hours remains untouched, overtime is mandatory, and global thresholds for retrenchment aren’t new—they’re normal. India must build a labour climate where small businesses aren’t strangled by outdated rules. When they grow, workers gain more jobs and more bargaining power.
Yes, implementation will make or break the Codes. But rejecting them outright means rejecting universal wages, social security and modern protections for the poorest workers.
India’s labour system needed a reset. The new Codes provide exactly that. And for the first time, millions who lived on the fringes of the economy finally find themselves at the centre of it.
