India’s new labour codes, with draft central rules released in December 2025, have been presented as a reform with transformative potential. Editorial | Labour and honour: On the four Labour Codes, the path aheadThe Code on Wages creates a National Floor Wage and a National Minimum Wage but offers no clear methodology for setting either and how they will differ. In the absence of unions, labour courts or workers’ awareness of rights, labour inspectors could have been the only channel for redressal. There are many assumptionsThe labour codes fail to confront what drives informality in the first place. The optimistic projections of the Economic Survey rest on assumptions that contradict many of the labour market realities.

Source: The Hindu March 13, 2026 09:40 UTC