The Ministry of Labour & Employment has released the Draft National Labour & Employment Policy – Shram Shakti Niti 2025 for public consultation.
About Draft National Labour & Employment Policy – Shram Shakti Niti 2025
It’s a blueprint for transforming India’s labour governance from regulation to facilitation, integrating constitutional values with digital innovation to ensure “work with dignity for every worker.”
- Released by: Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India
- Vision: To establish a fair, inclusive, and future-ready world of work in tune with the national goal of Viksit Bharat @2047.
- Inspired by: India’s civilisational ethos of śrama dharma – Upholding the dignity and moral value of work
- Objective: To create a balanced labour ecosystem that ensures protection, productivity, & participation and safeguarding workers’ rights while promoting enterprise growth and sustainable livelihoods.
- Implementation Framework:
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- Phase I (2025–27): Institutional setup, integration of social-security platforms, and AI-based job-matching pilots.
- Phase II (2027–30): Rollout of Universal Social Security Account, Skill Credit System, and district-level Employment Facilitation Cells.
- Phase III (Beyond 2030): Paperless, predictive, and continuously adaptive governance.
Key Features of the Draft Policy
- Seven Strategic Objectives
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- Universal Social Security: It involves creating a Universal Social Security Account(USSA) by integrating major schemes like Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), e-SHRAM , Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020
- Overview: The OSH Code, 2020 consolidates 13 labour laws on workplace safety, health, and conditions into one framework. It aims to simplify compliance and strengthen worker protection.
- Key Highlights
- Single Registration & Licence for factories, contractors, and establishments.
- Safety Committees and officers mandatory in larger units.
- Women’s Employment: Allows night work with safety provisions.
- Inter-State Migrant Workers: Online registration and benefit portability.
- National OSH Board: To set uniform safety and health standards.
- Significance: Promotes the “One Nation, One Licence” approach and aligns with ILO Decent Work Agenda. Integral to Shram Shakti Niti 2025’s goal of risk-based, gender-sensitive workplace standards.
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- Occupational Safety & Health (OSH): Implementation of OSH Code 2020 with gender-sensitive risk-based inspections.
- Employment and Future Readiness: Using the National Career Service (NCS) as the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for Employment, enabling seamless job matching, credential verification, and skill alignment across sectors
- It positions the Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoLE) as a proactive Employment Facilitator, connecting workers, employers, and training institutions through trusted, AI-driven systems.
- Women & Youth Empowerment: Target of 35% female participation by 2030, youth career counselling and apprenticeships.
- Ease of Compliance & Formalisation: Single-window digital compliance, self-certification, and MSME incentives.
- Technology & Green Transition: Green jobs, AI-enabled governance, just-transition for workers in carbon-intensive sectors.
- Convergence & Good Governance: Unified Labour Stack, evidence-based policymaking, real-time dashboards, and social audits
- Institutional Architecture
- Three-Tier System:
- National: National Labour & Employment Policy Implementation Council (NLPI).
- State: State Labour Missions.
- District: District Labour Resource Centres (DLRCs) – “One-stop employment hubs” for registration, skilling, and grievance redressal.
- Unified Labour & Employment Stack integrates databases and social-security entitlements for portability and inclusion
Key Challenge & Criticism
- Procedural and Democratic Concerns: All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has rejected the draft, calling it a “unilateral diktat”.
- It alleges violation of the tripartite process, wherein consultation with Central Trade Unions (CTUs) is a constitutionally established practice.
- Consultation is not optional but a cornerstone of sound labour policy.
- International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Tripartite Consultation Convention (No. 144) mandates prior consultation with workers’ and employers’ representatives which is essential for legitimacy and consensus-building.
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Current / Existing Framework
The foundation today is the Labour Codes (2019-2020) which consolidate the framework. Social security and welfare is partially governed through the Social Security Code plus various schemes.
- Labour Codes as the Core Legal Framework: India has already embarked on a major overhaul of labour legislation by consolidating numerous archaic, overlapping laws into four consolidated Labour Codes:
Social Security & Welfare Schemes
- Previously, the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008 was the primary legislation offering health, life, disability, maternity, and old-age protection for unorganised workers.
- Act is now repealed / subsumed under the Code on Social Security, 2020 to integrate benefits within the broader code framework.
- Many centrally sponsored schemes (for migrant workers, construction labour, skill training, health insurance, etc.) as well as state-level welfare programmes still co-exist outside the Codes, and often fill gaps in coverage.
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- Code on Wages, 2019: Merges the Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Bonus Act, and Equal Remuneration Act.
- Industrial Relations Code, 2020: Regulates trade unions, collective bargaining, industrial disputes, layoffs, strikes, etc. OSH (Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions) Code, 2020: Replaces 13 central laws relating to safety, health, welfare of workers; but many provisions await enforcement.
- Code on Social Security, 2020: Aims to unify social protection schemes (pension, insurance, maternity, ESIC, PF) and extend coverage deeper into informal/gig sectors.
Concurrent Jurisdiction & Implementation by States
- Labour is on the Concurrent List: both the Centre and the States have roles.
- The Centre frames the codes and sets broad policy; states notify rules, enforce them, adapt to local contexts.
- Enforcement is often through state labour departments, inspectorates, etc.
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Gaps, Challenges & Critiques of the Current System
- Implementation Lag & Partial Operationalisation: Though the codes were passed in 2019–2020, many provisions are yet to be notified or enforced.
- States/UTs are still in the draft-rule stage and full implementation is pending.
- Delay is often attributed to legal, administrative, infrastructure, political, and consensus challenges.
- Lack of Legal Enforceability in Social Security: Many benefits remain welfare schemes, not legal entitlements, leaving vulnerable workers without guaranteed access.
- The informal sector especially remains outside the fold of formal social security coverage.
- Fragmentation in State Capacities: States differ greatly in digital infrastructure, administrative readiness, inspector strength, training and resource allocation, creating disparities in coverage and enforcement.
- Some states lag in drafting rules or modifying their local systems to adapt to codes.
- Coverage Gaps for Gig, Platform, and Informal Workers: Although the Codes define many categories (Gig, Contract, Platform work), practical inclusion is patchy.
- The International Labour Organization (ILO) notes that around 90% of Indian workers lack full social security benefits like pension, insurance, paid leaves.
- Overlapping & Disjoint Scheme Architecture: Many schemes (central + state) operate in silos, leading to duplication, gaps, and unclear jurisdiction.
- Lack of interoperability among systems (EPFO, ESIC, state welfare funds, schemes) hinders portability and integration.
- Data, Portability & Integration Issues: Databases are often disparate and fragmented, lacking unified identity, cross-linking, or real-time synchronization.
- This complicates benefit portability (across states/districts) and undermines seamless worker mobility.
Way Forward
- Accelerate State Rule Adoption & Uniformity: Centre should provide model rules, funding, capacity-building to support lagging states.
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- Incentivize states to adopt rules early via tied grants or performance indicators (e.g. LEPEI (Labour & Employment Policy Evaluation Index in draft).
- Legislate Social Security as a Right, Not Just Scheme: Strengthen Codes (or complementary statutes) to convert critical benefits—pension, health insurance, maternity—into enforceable rights.
- Prioritize gig & informal workers for legal coverage, not just as optional beneficiaries.
- Build State Capacity & Digital Governance: Invest in upskilling inspectorates, local labour departments, ICT infrastructure, analytics.
- Introduce real-time dashboards, public accountability, social audits to ensure transparency.
- Stakeholder Engagement & Tripartite Framework: Reinforce tripartite consultation mechanisms at national and state levels to build legitimacy.
- Institutionalize periodic reviews, grievance redressal (including through unions).
- Transitional Safeguards & Legacy Protection: Protect existing welfare entitlements during transition (avoid benefit cuts).
- Monitoring, Evaluation & Feedback Loops: Mandate annual labour reports, independent reviews, third-party audits, and correct course mid-course.
- Use the draft’s proposed LEPEI (Labour & Employment Policy Evaluation Index) or similar metrics to benchmark state and sector performance.
Conclusion
Shram Shakti Niti 2025 seeks to make India’s labour ecosystem future-ready, digital, and inclusive. Yet, success depends on overcoming weak implementation and institutional inertia that have limited the impact of past reforms.
11 Oct 2025
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