PM Modi’s reform mantra reaches the factory floor

For eleven years, a silent but relentless restructuring of India’s economic foundations has been underway, one bold move at a time. On November 21, 2025, that revolution finally walked through the factory gate. With the four Labour Codes coming into force nationwide, the same decisive mindset that dismantled seventeen taxes & brought in GST ( One Nation One Tax) rescued bankrupt companies, digitally connected 1.4 billion people into a fully banked economy and scrapped more than 1,500 archaic laws has now rewritten the compact between labour and capital.

India under PM Modi is now doing for its labour market what it has already done in taxation, infrastructure, finance and ease of doing business. The pattern is unmistakable and unmissable. PM Modi has a reform mantra.

 

1. Goods and Services Tax (2017)

Seventeen taxes, countless check-posts, and cascading burdens were replaced by one nation, one tax. Just as GST ended the tyranny of interstate barriers for goods, the new portable social-security account ends the tyranny of state boundaries for migrant workers. A Bihari mason in Surat no longer loses his provident fund when he returns home; just as a truck no longer waits for hours at state borders after 2017.

 

2. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (2016)

Before IBC, a defaulting company would linger in limbo for decades, locking up capital and jobs. Today, creditors resolve stress in an average of 600 days and workers get first claim on liquidation proceeds. The labour reforms build on the same principle: speed, transparency and priority for the weakest stakeholder.

 

3. Digital India and direct benefit transfer

Over Rs 36 lakh crore has been transferred directly to the poor without leakage because Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile created the JAM trinity that bypassed middlemen. The new labour architecture rides on the same principle: a single universal account number, real-time wage credit mandates within one working day of salary becoming due, and Aadhaar-enabled portability. Technology is no longer an add-on; it is the new safety net.

 

4. Abolition of over 1,500 obsolete laws and 30,000+ compliances

From angel tax reform to decriminalisation of minor offences in company law, the Modi government has relentlessly pruned the jungle of red tape. The labour codes continue the same mission: one licence instead of ten, one return instead of twenty-nine registers, one inspection scheme based on risk instead of the whims of inspectors.

 

5. Infrastructure and Gati Shakti (2021)

Gati Shakti synchronised seventeen ministries to cut project delays by years and on similar lines the Industrial Relations Code raises thresholds for prior government approval on retrenchment, allowing factories to scale without bureaucratic choke-points.

These are not isolated reforms but the coming together of a single vision. The Modi government has identified two inseparable pillars that need to be delivered upon: Roti-Rozgar and Dignity-izzat, livelihood and security. These labour codes shepherded by Minister Mansukh Mandaviya deliver both in full measure. A woman beedi worker in Andhra will have a statutory crèche and separate washrooms for the first time. A fixed-term contract worker in Gurugram will earn gratuity after one year instead of five, pro-rata paid leave and severance compensation equal to permanent employees. These are not concessions granted out of kindness but are rights enforced by statute.

Cynics will still use a microscope to search for flaws, as they did with GST in its initial years or with IBC when recovery rates were still climbing. Yet the direction is irreversible. Female labour-force participation, stagnant for decades will now rise. MSMEs, which employ 11 crore people, can breathe without the perpetual fear of inspector raj. Foreign investors who once cited labour rigidity as a red flag now see a framework comparable to Vietnam or Indonesia.

But the real transformative power of the four codes becomes visible only when we examine the fine print:

• A uniform definition of “wages” across all codes that excludes only eight specified allowances, thereby preventing employers from artificially depressing basic pay and depriving workers of higher provident fund, gratuity and overtime.
  
• Mandatory web-based inspection with randomised, computerised selection and upload of inspection reports within 72 hours, making collusion between inspector and management almost impossible.
  
• Recognition of “gig and platform workers” as a new statutory category for the first time in any major economy, with state governments empowered to create dedicated social-security funds financed by a 1–2 per cent cess on aggregator turnover plus contributions from the Centre and state.
  
• A single all-India licence for contractors who supply workers across multiple states, ending the earlier practice of obtaining separate licences in every state.
  
• The creation of “Social Security Fund” for unorganised workers with contributions from the Centre, states and a small transaction cess, ensuring that even workers who have no identifiable employer (street vendors, waste-pickers, home-based artisans) are not left out.
  
• Compulsory appointment of “safety officers” in factories, mines and construction sites with more than 500 workers (or lower thresholds in hazardous processes) and safety committees in every establishment with 100+ workers.
  
• The right of every worker to approach labour courts directly for recovery of dues up to Rs 25 lakh without needing government permission, a provision that dramatically reduces delays in wage disputes.

Taken together, these provisions do not merely consolidate 29 old laws; they create an entirely new architecture that is digital-first, gender-just, migrant-friendly and future-ready. Earlier models ran on cheap labour and cheaper compliance. The new Modi model runs on skilled labour and smart compliance. On November 21, 2025, India did not merely amend laws rather redefined the relationship between state, worker and enterprise. Just as GST made India one market, just as Digital India made India one payment economy, the labour codes make India one workforce.

Shram Sashaktikaran is not the end of reform, rather it is proof that bold reform is now the default setting of Modi 3.0. The worker has not only been freed from colonial chains but has been equipped to lead India’s next leap forward.

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