Contracts and support

Govt must stay the course on fixed-term contract jobs

The government’s recent moves to incorporate a degree of flexibility into the regulations governing India’s labour market are welcome and long-expected steps. Few other reforms have been considered by generations of economists as being as important for improving India’s growth potential as have labour reforms. The recent codes, including the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 — which was notified on September 29 — are therefore being seen as a major step forward, even if they do not necessarily go far enough. While not introducing real flexibility to the market, the codes have sought to formalise and expand the paradigm of contract