Labour codification in India seeks to consolidate welfare protections while balancing ease of doing business. Discuss with reference to maternity benefits.

Article 42 of the Constitution directs the State to secure just conditions of work and maternity relief. The Code on Social Security, 2020 attempts this by merging nine central welfare laws into one framework [1], while simultaneously easing employer compliance. Maternity benefit — a wholly employer-funded entitlement — is the sharpest test of whether these two aims can coexist.

Consolidation: protections widened

• The Code subsumes the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 and eight other enactments, carrying its non-discrimination guarantee forward into Section 68 [1].
• Post-2017 gains are retained: 26 weeks paid leave for the first two children and a crèche in establishments with 50 or more employees [2].
• Coverage is extended beyond the organised sector toward gig, platform and unorganised workers, with aggregator contributions and a universal registration architecture [3].

Ease of doing business: the trade-offs

• Single registration, fewer returns and an Inspector-cum-Facilitator model reduce compliance burden — but weaken deterrence against violations [1].
• Maternity cost remains an employer liability, not a pooled social-insurance risk, creating a hiring disincentive against women of childbearing age.
• Threshold-based applicability (establishments with 10 or more workers) leaves most micro-enterprises, where women are concentrated, outside the guarantee [4].
• Staggered notification means the 1961 Act still governs the field, prolonging regulatory uncertainty.

Where the balance frays

• The Delhi High Court (August 2026) read Section 12's "conditions of service" to cover duties, functional status, reporting hierarchy and promotion prospects, and directed the Centre to frame safeguards [5][4] — showing that the "maternity penalty" surfaces only through litigation.
• Female LFPR rose from 23.3% (2017-18) to 41.7% (2023-24) [6]; sustaining this needs credible post-return protection, not merely leave on paper.

Codification has broadened entitlements but left their financing and enforcement thin. Shifting maternity cost to a tripartite risk-pooling fund, notifying the Codes fully, and prescribing a statutory "equivalent position" standard on return would align employer viability with women's careers — advancing Article 42 and SDG 5 and 8 together.