Comparative Analysis of Old Labour Laws and New Labour Laws

There are four Labour Codes of India, namely, the Code on Wages, 2019; the Code on Industrial Relations, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, 2020, introduced a paradigm shift in the governance of labour in India by replacing twenty-nine central labour laws with four comprehensive codes. The old Codes, however, limit the protection of the minimum wage to scheduled employments and the organized sector, while the new Codes include a statutory national floor wage and a universal minimum wage. Most importantly, the Code on Social Security brings the protection of the law to the unorganized sector including gig and platform workers, which is reflective of the modern economic landscape. In this regard, the new framework breaks from the "Inspector Raj" and introduces the model of " Inspector-cum-Facilitator" to replace it . This has raised the level of government approval needed before a retrenchment, closure or lay-off – from 100 to 300 employees – and helped to foster formalization, but it has also come under heavy fire for reducing job security and collective bargaining power. Finally, this study finds that the new Labour Codes have been effective at eliminating obsolete rules and increasing welfare coverage, but a balance between competitiveness and social justice will be achieved by the careful application of the state's delegated rules.