The labour pains of Shram Niti

The Centre's draft labour and employment policy reflects new economic realities. But, concerns remain over its enforcement in a labour landscape marked by a massive informal sector

- SHIVA RAJORA

Earlier this month, the Union labour ministry released the draft Shram Shakti Niti 2025, the first attempt at a national policy on labour and employment. It seeks to make a paradigm shift in the policies, laws, and institutions that regulate the relationship between employers and workers.

The policy envisages a technology-driven, worker-centric framework — anchored in universal social security, artificial intelligence (AI)-based job matching, and digital compliance.

It reimagines the role of the labour ministry as an “employment facilitator” instead of the regulatory role it has traditionally played, as India’s labour markets experience structural shifts driven by digitalisation, green transition and new employment models such as gig and platform work.

“The vision of Shram Shakti Niti 2025 is to create an inclusive, fair, and resilient labour ecosystem that upholds dignity, fosters productivity, and ensures access to decent work for every worker,” an official told Business Standard. “It seeks to make India’s workforce future-ready by enabling continuous skilling and integrating sustainability and digital transformation into the core of employment generation. Hence, it aligns with the larger national goal of achieving a Viksit Bharat by 2047, where growth is people-centric.”

What it entails

The draft policy looks to integrate social protection, skilling, occupational safety, and technology-led governance with the National Career Service (NCS) portal, which has emerged as India’s digital public infrastructure for jobs, including job-matching, credential verification, and skill alignment.

It envisions a labour ecosystem, which, by 2047, will ensure “millions of green and decent jobs”, near-zero workplace fatalities, universal worker registration and social security portability, and increased female labour-force participation, among other goals.