Five states not ready with draft rules on 3 labour codes: Labour minister

Five states did not pre-publish draft rules under the Industrial Relations, Social Security, and Occupational Safety Codes, and four states or Union Territories failed to do so for the Code on Wages, 2019, as reported by Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shobha Karandlaje in Parliament. The minister emphasized that labor falls under the Concurrent List, and both central and state governments hold rule-making authority. The central government pre-published draft rules and conducted tripartite consultations in 2020 and 2021. While 31-32 states/UTs completed the process for the four codes, the remaining were guided through meetings. The labor reforms merged 29 laws into four codes, streamlining regulations to uniformly enforce workers' rights, including minimum wages and workplace safety.