Budget 2019: Labour Legislation To Be Streamlined Into Just Four Codes For Ease Of Registration, Return Filing

The labour legislation in India would be streamlined into just four codes for standardised registration and and return filing, Finance Minster Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her maiden budget speech. This is expected to bring down labour disputes in the country.

The Narendra Modi led government had earlier approved the introduction of Code of Wages Bill which would then subsume The Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Payment of Wages Act 1936, Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and Equal Remuneration Act 1976.

The code of wages bill is expected to benefit over 50 crore workers. Different states have as many as 2,000 different minimum wages and the code simplifies and reduces them substantially by doing away with 'type of employment' as a criteria. As per the Bill, the minimum wages would be based on geography and skills.