Discuss how the Code on Social Security, 2020 seeks to rationalise India's fragmented labour welfare legislation, with reference to EPF, EPS and ESI.

India's social security was long governed by separate statutes — the EPF & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (covering EPF, EPS and EDLI) [2] and the ESI Act, 1948 — each with its own definitions, wage thresholds and administering body. The Code on Social Security, 2020 seeks to replace this patchwork with a single, portable framework.

Consolidation of statutes

• The Code merges nine central labour welfare laws, including the EPF & MP Act and the ESI Act, into one framework, simplifying compliance for employers [3].
• Fresh EPF Scheme 2026, EPS 2026 and EDLI Scheme 2026 have been framed to operationalise the Code in place of the older scheme rules [3].

Uniform definitions and thresholds

• A single statutory definition of "wages" across social security laws curbs wage-structuring, where pay is shifted into allowances to shrink the contribution base [3].
• Yet thresholds remain unaligned: EPFO's mandatory-coverage ceiling rises from Rs.15,000 to Rs.25,000 from 17 September 2026 [1], while the ESI ceiling stays at Rs.21,000 (Rs.25,000 for persons with disability) [3].

Widening the covered universe

• Coverage is extended beyond the organised sector to unorganised, gig and platform workers, registered on a national portal with an Aadhaar-verified, nationally valid identification number — critical when 88.4% of India's workforce is informal [3][5].
• Gratuity eligibility for fixed-term employees is reduced from five years to one under Section 53 [3].

Unfinished rationalisation

• Adequacy lags coverage: the EPS minimum pension of Rs.1,000, fixed from 01.09.2014, is unrevised [4].
• Institutional duality persists — the Central Board of Trustees runs EPF/EPS/EDLI while ESIC runs health insurance [3] — so an employer still tracks two regimes.

The Code therefore rationalises structure — fewer laws, common definitions, portable identity — more successfully than it rationalises benefit levels and thresholds. Aligning the EPFO and ESI ceilings, indexing them to wage growth, and revising the pension floor would complete the shift from fragmented welfare statutes to genuinely universal social protection envisaged by the Code.