Context:

• An investigation into the seafood industry on India’s east coast revealed severe exploitation of women workers, who labour in unsafe conditions for meagre wages after being stripped of Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) and Provident Fund (PF) benefits through reclassification as “daily wagers.”
• Despite such widespread abuse—amid an estimated 11 million people living in modern slavery, the highest in the world—the government’s new draft Shram Shakti Niti 2025 claims to be “future-ready” and rooted in ancient Indian ethos.
• However, critics say it fails to address systemic worker exploitation or strengthen labour protections in today’s harsh employment realities.

A Case of ‘Employer Ease’ in India’s New Labour Policy

• Across India’s steel, textile, seafood, and quarry industries, millions of workers are hired informally through contractors, without written contracts or benefits.
• According to the ILO (2024), 90% of India’s workforce is informally employed, often denied legal rights, fair wages, and dignity, violating Articles 14, 16, and 23 of the Constitution.
• The draft Shram Shakti Niti 2025 rebrands labour reform as “cultural revival,” critics say, prioritising “employer ease” over worker justice.
• Universal Social Security Without Funding Clarity
  • The policy proposes a Universal Social Security Account, merging schemes like EPFO, ESIC, PMJAY, e-SHRAM, and State boards to ensure lifelong health, pension, maternity, and accident benefits.
  • However, it lacks clarity on funding mechanisms, offering no employer or state contribution mandates, risking tokenistic coverage similar to e-SHRAM’s low payouts.
  • With digital-only access in a country where only 38% of households are literate, the model risks excluding women, elderly, and low-literates, breaching Article 15 on equality.
• Missing Safeguards for Collective Bargaining
  • The absence of union protections further weakens workers’ bargaining power.
  • Experts recommend offline access, tripartite funding (employer–state–worker), and union inclusion to prevent systemic exclusion and exploitation.
• Occupational Safety and Health: Lofty Goals, Weak Enforcement
  • The policy pledges to enforce the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.
  • It does so by the provisions of risk audits and gender-sensitive standards, honouring Directive 42 (state can make provision to secure just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief) and ILO Convention 155 (women’s care-role risks).
  • However, its “near-zero fatalities by 2047” goal seems unrealistic.
  • Without strong penalties, adequate inspectors, and coverage for informal and gig workers, workplace safety promises risk becoming symbolic.
  • Digital tools exclude informal workers, undermining equality; ignoring gig mental health, while union audits weaken Article 19.

Areas of Concern in the Draft Shram Shakti Niti 2025

• AI-Driven Job Facilitation Risks Bias
  • The policy envisions the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) as an employment facilitator, using AI-driven job-matching under the National Career Service (NCS) to align skills and tackle graduate unemployment.
  • However, the absence of AI bias safeguards could lead to caste and gender discrimination, violating Article 15, especially in smaller cities and MSMEs.
• Gig Economy and Wage Code Gaps
  • The Wages Code’s minimum protections remain ignored for the 12 million gig workers, allowing “flexibility” to mask exploitation.
  • Without ethics audits and union oversight, algorithmic systems could deepen inequality and tech-driven labour abuse.
• Gender Equity Without Enforcement
  • The policy targets 35% female labour participation by 2030 through childcare, equal pay, flexible gigs, and apprenticeships — aligning with ILO Convention 195 and Article 15.
  • Yet, without quotas, penalties, or maternity protections for informal workers, the goal remains aspirational.
  • The neglect of caste-gender data and mental health issues also masks the barriers faced by Dalit and rural women.
• Green Transition Without Just Transition
  • The green-tech vision promotes AI-enhanced safety and reskilling for coal workers, aligning with SDG 13 and Article 21 (right to livelihood).
  • However, lacking income support and union inclusion, it risks violating ILO Convention 29.
  • An urban bias in green jobs could marginalise 400 million informal workers, demanding tripartite funding and OECD-standard safeguards.
• Weak Data and Privacy Governance
  • Plans to integrate labour, education, and digital governance through Labour and Employment Policy Evaluation Index (LEPEI) dashboards and Digital India may advance transparency, but poor enforcement of the Data Protection Act risks worker surveillance and curbs on Article 19 freedoms.
• Vision vs. Reality
  • The Shram Shakti Niti 2025 presents itself as a “rights-driven, future-ready” framework for Viksit Bharat.
  • However, its gaps — weak oversight, digital exclusion, unenforced penalties, and disregard for ILO standards — could accelerate the decline of unions and deepen inequality in the expanding gig economy.

Restoring Dignity, Rights, and Justice to India’s Workers

• The Shram Shakti Niti 2025 risks failing without adequate funding and institutional safeguards.
• For millions in informal and forced labour, the real test lies not in digital dashboards but in whether the policy can restore dignity, rights, and justice to the working poor.
• The 2025–47 implementation must include pilot projects, rights-based audits, tripartite enforcement, offline accessibility for digitally excluded workers, and transparent grievance systems.
• Without these, the policy risks becoming symbolic rhetoric rather than a genuine instrument of labour justice in India.