The Lift Line

“Governments usually compete for investment with things they control, such as land, power, tax terms and approvals.” (Amit Kumar, “What Piyush Goyal and Harsh Goenka didn’t say: India is putting its employees’ evenings up for sale”, The Indian Express, 31 October 2026)

Why This Editorial Matters for Your Exam

In the news: in a column in The Indian Express on 31 October 2026, Amit Kumar, who works in the corporate sector (as the column’s closing line says), takes on a remark by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to business leaders in the Netherlands that nobody in India “will tell you it’s 5 o’clock”, and its defence by RPG Group chairman Harsh Goenka. The column tests the pitch against India’s labour law on hours, overtime and the right to disconnect.

The Labour Codes have been in this site’s coverage before: the 30 October deep dive on the National Social Security Board and gig workers (Code on Social Security), and the editorials on skill classification and the minimum wage (Code on Wages) and inbound investment and the labour codes. This column turns to working hours themselves: the 48-hour week, consent-based overtime, fixed-term contracts and the absence of a right to disconnect.

UPSC relevance:

  • GS Paper 3: Indian economy and employment; labour reforms; investment climate.
  • GS Paper 2: welfare of vulnerable sections; mechanisms for the protection of workers; private members’ bills in Parliament.
  • Prelims: the four Labour Codes and their dates; OSH Code sections 25 to 27; the OSH (Central) Rules, 2026; “appropriate Government”; the IR Code definitions of “worker” and “fixed term employment”; Entries 22 and 24 of the Concurrent List.
  • Essay and GS4: work ethic and work-life balance; consent under unequal power; the duty of an employer.

The Crux in 60 Words

A minister sold Indian workers’ readiness to work past five o’clock as an investment edge. Amit Kumar argues that this sells something the state does not own: the evenings of employees too weak to refuse. The law limits hours on paper, but the Central Rules reach few offices, overtime rests on “consent”, and there is no right to disconnect.

Key Arguments at a Glance

Amit Kumar argues that a minister’s pitch to investors, that no one in India ‘will tell you it’s 5 o’clock’, offers for sale something the state does not own: the evenings of employees who are least able to refuse.

Supporting
  • Silence at five o’clock reflects bargaining power, not enthusiasm: a fixed-term contract simply lapses and is not retrenchment under the Industrial Relations Code, so those on such contracts, on probation or early in their careers find it hardest to say no.
  • The law limits hours on paper, but the Central Rules of May 2026 apply only to central-sphere establishments, overtime is paid to workers who agree to it, the IR Code’s ‘worker’ excludes managers and higher-paid supervisors, and there is no statutory right to disconnect.
  • Availability is a weak thing to sell: WHO estimates link weeks of 55 hours or more to a 35 per cent higher risk of stroke and a 17 per cent higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease, and an employer who stretches staff has less reason to hire.
  • The audience makes the pitch stranger, the author writes: the Netherlands, by the Eurostat figure the author cites, has the shortest average working week in the EU and stays rich, and the Indian ‘edge’ is a worker carrying a Dutch client’s clock on top of an Indian day.
Counter

Harsh Goenka’s defence, as the column reports it: the minister may have been joking, but there is a serious point, since Indians work late into the night and through weekends when the job demands it, and that is an edge. Overtime under the OSH Code is already paid at double the rate, and only with the worker’s consent.

Way Forward

The author proposes that the Commerce Ministry put the statutory week, the double overtime rate and the weekly day off into its investor material; that the government adopt the Right to Disconnect Bill; that firms publish how much after-hours work they ask for and pay for; and that labour departments audit overtime registers without waiting for complaints.

Background and Context

The remark

Piyush Goyal’s visit to the Netherlands on 26 October 2026 included the India-Netherlands Business Forum, which he jointly chaired with Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation; the Commerce Ministry’s release puts attendance at “approximately 200 people”. The release does not quote the remark. According to a report by the business site trak.in, Goyal spoke “while pitching India as an investment destination at the India-Netherlands Business Forum in The Hague”, and said: “Indians want to work hard. Nobody in India will tell you it’s five o’clock. And certainly no Indian will ever remind you it’s the weekend.”

Harsh Goenka then defended the line. The minister may have been joking, he wrote, as the column reports it, but there was a serious point in it: in much of Europe the last meeting of the week ends by 4 pm on Friday, while Indians work late into the night and through weekends when the job demands it, and that is an edge.

The law the column invokes

The OSH Code fixes the day limit (eight hours, section 25) and leaves the spread of the working day to be notified by the appropriate Government. For context, the weekly ceiling sits in the OSH (Central) Rules, 2026, notified by the Ministry of Labour and Employment as G.S.R. 345(E) on 8 May 2026, in force from their publication in the Gazette. The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 governs retrenchment and disputes, and defines a fixed-term worker as one engaged “on the basis of a written contract of employment for a fixed period”, with hours, wages and benefits “not less than that of a permanent worker doing the same work”.

The Analysis

The column builds its case in five steps.

1. Silence is not enthusiasm. “An employee’s silence at five o’clock says little about enthusiasm,” the author writes. Those least able to refuse are those with the least bargaining power: people early in their careers, on probation or on fixed-term contracts. A fixed-term contract “simply lapses at the end of its term and is not retrenchment under the Industrial Relations Code”, so retrenchment notice and compensation do not apply. Citing PRS Legislative Research, Kumar adds that because renewal lies with the employer, such workers “may be deterred from raising issues like extended work hours”. The penalty for saying no, Kumar argues, “seldom needs to be a reprimand”: it can be “a lukewarm appraisal, a good project handed to a colleague, a remark about attitude”. Flexibility, in Kumar’s phrase, “has run in one direction only.”

2. The law on paper. The column’s legal claims hold up against the text:

The column says What the law says
A lapsed fixed-term contract is not retrenchment IR Code, section 2(zh)(iv): retrenchment excludes “termination of service of the worker as a result of completion of tenure of fixed term employment”
The Central Rules of May 2026 set a 48-hour week with double overtime OSH (Central) Rules, 2026: Rule 64(1), no worker to work “for more than forty eight hours in a week”; Rule 69, overtime “at the rate of twice the rate of their wages”; a proviso to Rule 69(4): no overtime “exceeding one hundred forty-four hours in any quarter”
Those Rules apply only to central-sphere establishments OSH Code, section 2(1)(d): the Centre is the appropriate Government for its own establishments, Central public sector undertakings, railways, mines, oil fields, major ports, air transport, telecom, banks and insurers, among others; the State for factories and other establishments
Double pay is owed to workers who willingly exceed the limit OSH Code, section 27: overtime at twice the rate, “subject to the consent of such worker for such work”
“Workers” excludes managerial roles and supervisors above a wage threshold IR Code, section 2(zr): excludes a person employed “mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity”, or in a supervisory capacity drawing wages above Rs 18,000 a month (or a notified amount)
A Right to Disconnect Bill is pending, as a private member’s bill PRS lists “The Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025 (Amendment of article 43A)” by Supriya Sule, introduced on 5 December 2025, as pending

“Everything depends on that word,” the author writes of “willingly”, “because willingness is hard to establish when refusal is costly.” The author adds that the IR Code does not define “manager” or “supervisor”, so a salaried professional “can be left unsure whether the statute covers them at all”, and that India “has no general statutory right to disconnect” from work messages after hours. On private members’ bills, a Factly explainer of December 2025 notes that “only 14 Private Members’ Bills have become laws” since 1952.

3. Practice runs ahead of the law. The author cites government survey data showing salaried men in India working over 50 hours a week in every year since 2018-19 except the pandemic years, and says Karnataka floated longer working days for IT employees in 2024 and again in 2025, dropping the second proposal after the State’s IT employees’ union campaigned against it. These figures and episodes are the author’s.

4. Availability is the weakest thing to sell. The author cites the economist John Pencavel’s study of British munitions workers a century ago, which found that output rose with hours only up to a threshold. The health evidence is firmer, and on record since 2021: the World Health Organization’s release of 17 May 2021 finds that working 55 or more hours a week “is associated with an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35-40 hours a week”, and puts deaths from the two causes linked to long hours at 745,000 in 2016, “a 29 per cent increase since 2000”. The author adds a jobs argument: “An employer who can stretch existing staff has less reason to hire another person.”

5. The wrong audience, and the remedy. The pitch was made to the Dutch. The author cites Eurostat for the Netherlands having the shortest average working week in the EU, 31.9 hours in 2025 with part-timers included, and Statistics Netherlands for its rank of fourth in the EU in GDP per head in 2024; these are Kumar’s figures. Four o’clock on a Friday in Amsterdam, the column notes, is half past eight in the evening in Bengaluru in Dutch winter time. Kumar’s remedy: the Commerce Ministry could put “the statutory week, the double overtime rate and the weekly day off into its investor material, so that compliance becomes the pitch”; the government could adopt the Right to Disconnect Bill; corporate leaders could publish how much after-hours work their firms ask for and pay for; and labour departments could audit overtime registers “without waiting for complaints”.

Data and Institutions Vault

Prelims-grade facts:

The four Labour Codes:

  • Codes: Code on Wages, 2019; Industrial Relations Code, 2020; Code on Social Security, 2020; OSH Code, 2020.
  • In force: made effective from 21 November 2025, rationalising 29 labour laws.
  • OSH Code, 2020: Act 37 of 2020; section 143 repeals the Factories Act, 1948 among 13 enactments.

Hours and overtime:

  • OSH Code s.25: not more than eight hours a day.
  • OSH Code s.26: not more than six days in a week.
  • OSH Code s.27: overtime at twice the ordinary rate, subject to the worker’s consent.
  • OSH (Central) Rules, 2026: G.S.R. 345(E), 8 May 2026, Ministry of Labour and Employment.
  • Rule 64(1): not more than 48 hours in a week.
  • Rule 69: overtime at twice the wage rate; a proviso to Rule 69(4) caps it at 144 hours in a quarter.

Who is covered:

  • Concurrent List: Entry 22 (trade unions; industrial and labour disputes) and Entry 24 (welfare of labour, including conditions of work).
  • “Appropriate Government” (OSH Code s.2(1)(d)), Centre: railways, mines, oil fields, major ports, air transport, telecom, banks, insurers.
  • “Appropriate Government”, State: factories and most other establishments.
  • IR Code s.2(zr), “worker”: excludes managerial or administrative staff, and supervisors earning over Rs 18,000 a month (or an amount the Centre notifies).
  • IR Code s.2(zh)(iv): end of a fixed-term contract is not retrenchment.
  • IR Code s.2(o), fixed-term worker: gratuity after one year of service.

Right to disconnect and health:

  • Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025: private member’s bill, Supriya Sule, introduced 5 December 2025; pending.
  • WHO (17 May 2021): 55+ hours a week linked to 35% higher stroke risk and 17% higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease.
  • WHO estimate: 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischaemic heart disease in 2016 linked to long hours.

⚠️ Watch the trap: the OSH Code fixes eight hours a day and six days a week; the 48-hour week and the 144-hour quarterly overtime cap come from the Central Rules of 8 May 2026, which bind the Centre’s sphere only. Labour is a Concurrent subject, not a Union one. The Right to Disconnect Bill is a private member’s bill, not a Government bill, and it is not law.

The Debate

The column’s case. Availability that a worker cannot refuse is not a virtue but a symptom of dependence, and a minister who sells it is offering what belongs to someone else. The law already sets limits, but they reach few private offices, rest on a consent that is hard to withhold, and leave many professionals unsure whether they are “workers” at all. Long hours carry a documented health cost and may reduce hiring.

The other side. Goenka’s point has force in India’s services export model: firms that serve clients across time zones compete partly on responsiveness, and many employees may choose extra hours for pay or advancement. The OSH Code already makes overtime paid at double the rate and consensual, so the problem may lie less in the law than in enforcement. A rigid statutory right to disconnect could also be hard to apply across very different workplaces, and the Bill in Parliament is a private member’s bill, not a Government proposal.

The balanced verdict. The column is right that “never watching the clock” is a poor investment pitch for a country that wants to sell skill and reliable institutions, and right on the law as written. But the remedy lies mostly with the States, which govern most private offices, and with enforcement: clear State rules on hours, overtime registers that are actually inspected, and honest records of after-hours work. A right to disconnect is a reasonable subject for debate, not yet a settled answer.

How to Think About This

Use a “which law, which government, which worker” lens for any labour-rights question:

  1. Which law? Code or Rules, and which section? (The day limit is in the Code; the 48-hour week in the Central Rules.)
  2. Which government? Is the Centre or the State the “appropriate Government” for this establishment? (Banks and telecom: Centre; most private offices: State.)
  3. Which person? Does the statute’s definition of “worker” cover them? (Managers and higher-paid supervisors are excluded under the IR Code.)
  4. Real or paper right? Does it rest on consent, and can consent be refused safely? (Fixed-term renewal lies with the employer.)
  5. Law or proposal? Is it in force, a draft, or a private member’s bill? (The Right to Disconnect Bill is a pending private member’s bill.)

Then separate the checked from the asserted: the statutes and the WHO estimate can be cited; the survey figures, the Karnataka episodes and the Dutch statistics are the author’s.

Diagram-in-Words

Pitch: no one in India says “it’s five o’clock” → employees with the least bargaining power stay silent → overtime “consent” that is hard to refuse → legal limits that reach the Centre’s sphere and “workers” only → no right to disconnect → the author’s remedy: make compliance the pitch

Read it left to right: each step narrows who the law actually protects, and the author’s remedy works at the first step, by changing what is sold.

✍️ Mains Answer Framework
Question

Long working hours are often presented as a competitive advantage of India's workforce. Examine the legal limits on working hours and overtime under the labour codes, identify the gaps in protection for salaried and fixed-term employees, and suggest a way forward. (250 words)

Introduction

India’s four Labour Codes took effect on 21 November 2025, replacing 29 labour laws. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 limits daily hours and makes overtime paid and consensual, but the reach of these limits and the reality of ‘consent’ decide whether they protect the modern salaried employee.

Body

The legal limits. Section 25 of the OSH Code bars work beyond eight hours a day, section 26 beyond six days a week, and section 27 pays overtime at twice the ordinary rate, subject to the worker’s consent.
The OSH (Central) Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 345(E), 8 May 2026) cap the week at 48 hours (Rule 64), and a proviso to Rule 69(4) bars overtime beyond 144 hours in a quarter. The gaps.
First, labour is on the Concurrent List (Entries 22 and 24, List III), and the Centre is the ‘appropriate Government’ for its own establishments, Central public sector undertakings, railways, mines, major ports, air transport, telecom, banks and insurers, among others; most private offices fall under State rules. Second, consent is weak where bargaining power is weak: under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 the end of a fixed-term contract is not retrenchment, so renewal depends on the employer.
Third, the IR Code’s ‘worker’ excludes those employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity and supervisors earning above Rs 18,000 a month, leaving many professionals outside its dispute machinery. Fourth, there is no statutory right to disconnect; the Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025 is a private member’s bill.
The cost. WHO estimates (2021) associate weeks of 55 hours or more with a 35 per cent higher risk of stroke and a 17 per cent higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease.
Way forward. States should notify clear rules on hours and spread-over for offices; inspectors should audit overtime registers proactively; firms should record after-hours work; and a right to disconnect can be debated as part of a balanced framework.

Conclusion

India should compete for investment on skills, infrastructure and reliable institutions, not on unlimited availability. Enforcing the limits already in law, and extending them to the salaried workplace, protects health and productivity and can widen hiring.

Interview Angle

"Many young professionals in India answer work messages late at night without overtime pay. As a State Labour Commissioner, what would you do about it, and how would you avoid scaring away investors?"

Takeaway Box

  • Lift line: “Governments usually compete for investment with things they control, such as land, power, tax terms and approvals.”
  • Core idea: unlimited availability is a weak investment pitch; the limits in law are narrow in reach, rest on consent and leave no right to disconnect.
  • Prelims hooks: four Labour Codes from 21 November 2025; OSH Code ss.25 to 27; Central Rules, G.S.R. 345(E), Rule 64 and Rule 69; Entries 22 and 24, List III; IR Code s.2(zr) and s.2(zh)(iv); Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025 (private member’s).
  • Ethics and Interview angle: consent under unequal power: when is a “yes” from an employee free, and what does an employer owe the person who cannot afford to say no?
  • Probable question: “Discuss the need for a right to disconnect in India’s workplaces in the light of the labour codes.” (GS2 and GS3, 150 words)

Sources:

  • Amit Kumar, “What Piyush Goyal and Harsh Goenka didn’t say: India is putting its employees’ evenings up for sale”, The Indian Express, 31 October 2026
  • PIB, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, release of 27 October 2026 on the visit to the Netherlands; trak.in report of 28 October 2026
  • PIB, 21 November 2025 (the four Labour Codes made effective)
  • The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (sections 2(1)(d), 25, 26, 27, 143) and the OSH (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 345(E), 8 May 2026 (Rules 64 and 69)
  • The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (sections 2(o), 2(zh), 2(zr))
  • The Constitution of India, Article 246(2) and Seventh Schedule, List III, Entries 22 and 24
  • PRS Legislative Research, MP Track (Supriya Sule); Factly, December 2025
  • World Health Organization, news release of 17 May 2021 on long working hours

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