IMPRI Team
In 2020, the Union Government of India finalized rule under 4 labor codes, with the aim of rebooting the economy and building a future of work that is safer, greener, and more resilient. In line with this idea, the Center for Work and Welfare (CWW), IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, Indian Social Institute (ISI), New Delhi, and Counterview organized a #WebPolicyTalk on The Future of Labour Codes: Impact and Way Forward from Trade Union Perspectives under the State of Employment – #EmploymentDebate series.
Labour Codes and Economic Justice
Dr. Rashmi Venkatesan, Assistant Professor of Law, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, asserted that the very first need should be to look at the term “labor” in a broader context. There is a disconnect that exists between the intellectual understanding of issues and the larger public discourse. Unlike the agitation that followed among the public at large following the passing of the farm laws in 2020, the codes failed to garner that same level of resistance from the common people.
The transition from labor to the public did not happen which became a big hindrance in generating awareness about the broader impact of these codes. They negate the ethos of economic justice are now just moving towards concentrating economic prowess at the hands of a very minute section of people. The critical narrative centering on labor laws has largely been restricted to legal criticism and failed to highlight the issues of intersectionality.
