India, May 5 -- A series of worker protests in North India amid the rollout of the new labour codes has drawn attention to India's lopsided labour regime once again. India's labour regime offers very little protection to the vast majority of the country's workforce that is employed in the unorganised sector. It seemingly offers very generous protection to those employed in the organised sector.

Yet, enforcement of labour laws remains patchy, given the limited resources of the State.

India's labour regime has been disjointed right from the start. In the early part of the 20th century, both British administrators and Congress politicians struggled to reconcile the competing demands of a heterogeneous workforce and a diverse group of emplo...