Model Answer

Introduction

The Draft National Labour and Employment Policy (Shram Shakti Niti, 2025) marks a significant shift in India's labour governance framework. It envisions a fair, inclusive, and future-ready world of work by ensuring workers' welfare while fostering an enabling environment for enterprises. The policy aligns with India's long-term vision of achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047.

Body

1. Strengthening Workers' Welfare

   • The policy prioritizes universal and portable social security to ensure that every worker, formal or informal, is covered.
   • Integration of schemes: EPFO, ESIC, PMJAY, e-SHRAM, and State Welfare Boards will be digitally integrated under the idea of “One Nation, Integrated Workforce."
   • Occupational Safety: Implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Code with risk-based inspections and gender-sensitive standards aims at near-zero workplace fatalities.
   • Inclusivity and gender equity: The policy targets a 35% female labour-force participation rate by 2030 through flexible work norms, childcare support, and safer workplaces.
   • Green and Decent Jobs: Encourages the creation of green jobs and just transition pathways for workers affected by technological or environmental shifts.

2. Enhancing Ease of Doing Business While focusing on welfare, the policy simultaneously promotes a conducive environment for enterprises:

   • Single-Window Digital Compliance: Simplified returns, self-certification, and paperless governance reduce regulatory burden, especially for MSMEs.
   • Phased Implementation: A three-phase rollout (2025–2030 and beyond) allows enterprises to gradually adapt to reforms.
   • Data-driven Governance: The Labour & Employment Policy Evaluation Index (LPEI) and real-time dashboards enable evidence-based policymaking and minimize administrative friction.
   • Formalization and Productivity: By digitizing compliance and labour data, the policy aims to reduce informality and improve workforce productivity.

3. Achieving the Balance The Shram Shakti Niti adopts a dual approach —

   • Protection with Flexibility: Safeguards workers' rights while ensuring business competitiveness.
   • Welfare with Efficiency: Social protection systems are made portable and tech-enabled, reducing leakages and improving governance.
   • Reform with Inclusion: Focus on MSMEs, women, and informal workers ensures growth is both sustainable and equitable.

Conclusion/Way Forward

The Draft National Labour and Employment Policy is a forward-looking framework that attempts to bridge the long-standing divide between labour welfare and industrial flexibility. By integrating welfare schemes, digitalizing compliance, and promoting gender and green inclusivity, it envisions a resilient, equitable, and productive labour ecosystem essential for realizing India's goal of inclusive growth and a developed economy by 2047.