Introduction

On 15.10.1999 the Government of India set up the second National Commission on Labour, inter alia, to suggest “rationalisation of existing laws relating to labour in the organised sector” and “an umbrella legislation for ensuring a minimum level of protection to workers in the unorganised sector.”

Having reviewed the entire gamut of labour laws, the Commission in its report submitted in the year 1992 recommended, inter alia, that the then existing set of labour laws should be broadly amalgamated into the following groups, namely: —
a. industrial relations;
b. wages;
c. social security;
d. safety; and
e. welfare and working conditions

In pursuance to the recommendations made by the second National Commission on Labour and the deliberations made subsequently by the representatives of the various stake-holders, the Central Government decided to rationalise and amalgamate different Central labour enactments into four Codes, viz., The Code on Wages, 2019; The Industrial Relations Code, 2020; The Code on Social Security, 2020; and The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.