BETWEEN TRAINING AND LABOUR: THE REGULATORY GAP IN INDIA’S UNPAID INTERNSHIP REGIME

The article argues that while the Bar Council of India explicitly mandates legal internships, they remain silent on remuneration at the structural, judicial, and professional levels. This emerges in the definitional structure of labor laws for the terms “employee” and “workers”. It also presupposes an employer-employee relation, which does not apply to internship arrangements. Furthermore, this is compounded when it burdens students differently, raising questions over equity. It raises concerns under Articles 14, 21, and 23 of the Constitution. The article brings recognition of the gig economy as an insight that labor laws can integrate non-traditional arrangements. At last, reform proposals, including a tiered stipend model, structural changes, and recognition of the definition of interns, are introduced.