The Union government’s draft labour policy has drawn “inspiration” from Manusmriti, the ancient Hindu text that codified caste hierarchy, and has termed labour as rajdharma, a premise that experts find conflicting with workers’ rights.
The draft National Labour and Employment Policy, prepared by the labour ministry, states that social norms consider labour as a sacred and moral duty that sustains social harmony, economic well-being and collective prosperity.
“In the Indic worldview, work is not merely a means of livelihood but a contribution to the broader order of dharma (righteous duty). This perspective recognises every worker — whether an artisan, farmer, teacher, or industrial labourer — as an essential participant in the cycle of social creation,” the policy said.
“Ancient texts such as the Manusmriti, Yajnavalkyasmriti, Naradasmriti, Sukraniti and Arthashastra articulated this ethos through the concept of rajdharma, emphasising the sovereign’s duty to ensure justice, fair wages, and the protection of workers from
exploitation.
“The Shram Shakti Niti 2025 draws inspiration from these indigenous frameworks while embedding them in the constitutional and international context of the modern state,” the policy added.
When the government has promised universal social security and job creation through innovation and entrepreneurship, its performance in these areas is rather dismal.
Formal workers who constitute 10 per cent of the workforce have social security coverage such as provident funds, life insurance and health insurance, while 90 per cent of workers have to arrange their own social security.
The amount given as Union government pension to nearly 2 crore elderly people under the National Social Assistance Programme remains as low as ₹200 a month.
In job creation, India witnessed a decline in generating regular jobs in the last five years, according to the Economic Survey 2023-24. In contrast, the engagement of the labour force in self-employment had continuously increased since 2018-19 till 2022-23, said the survey tabled in Parliament in July 2024. The survey quoted data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey carried out by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.
The purchasing power of the amount received as wages by workers, known as the real wage, is witnessing negative growth in India despite an increase in the nominal wage or the actual amount they get, according to the Economic Survey 2022-23.
“However, growth in real rural wages has been negative due to elevated inflation. Going forward, as inflation is expected to soften with the easing of international commodity prices and domestic food prices, it is expected that this will translate into a rise in real wages,” said the report.
The CPI-affiliated All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) alleged that the draft policy has been prepared without consultation with trade unions. It urged the labour ministry to immediately withdraw the draft and initiate discussions with the central trade unions before finalising it for public opinion. The policy does not address the most contentious issue of job security, employment generation and mandatory minimum wages as per the Minimum Wages Act, it said.
Pradeep Shinde, a faculty member at the Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said wage, workers’ rights and protection from exploitation were modern concepts which came up after industrialisation and the emergence of capitalism in the last two centuries.
“In ancient times, it was the Jajmani System, and workers had no rights. There was no wage system. In return for work, workers were paid a subsistence level of remuneration, mainly in kind. They had no say in fixing payments.
“To glorify the concept of srama (labour) as promoted by the Hindu texts is nothing but an attempt to reinforce the same caste-based hierarchical division of labour in which the Brahmins would enjoy the highest status for their ritualistic practices in religious ceremonies,” Shinde said.
He added that in ancient shastric texts, although the king was the embodiment of power, his status was subordinated to the status of the Brahmin.
“The fact that the Smritis are being invoked in the context of labour rights shows that the RSS is trying to assertively reinscribe the significance of Brahmin, which it believes must be recognised by the elected executives,” he said, adding that the comparison of labour to dharma or rajdharma is a flawed idea since it ignores rights, fair wages and safety of workers.