Manufacturing for Economic Growth, Industrial Relations 2026, and Comprehensive National Power: A Critical Assessment

Rahul Singh

No du3gb_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: This paper examines the Industrial Relations (Central) Rules, 2026, notified by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on 8 May 2026 through Gazette notification G.S.R. 342(E), and assesses their implications for manufacturing-led growth and Comprehensive National Power. The analysis situates the rules within the scholarly debate between Bhagwati and Panagariya on labour-intensive manufacturing, Rajan on domestic-oriented growth, and Rodrik on premature deindustrialization. Four provisions are documented: the 300-worker threshold for prior permission on lay-offs, retrenchments, and closures; the 14-day strike notice with a 60-day validity period applicable across all establishments; the 30 percent secret-ballot threshold for sole negotiating union recognition; and the Worker Re-skilling Fund under Rule 37. A comparative review of labour regimes in China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany indicates that India retains a prior-permission architecture for collective dismissals while peer jurisdictions operate on notice-and-consult models. The paper applies Bhonsle's framework on Comprehensive National Power to read the rules as a mechanism mediating economic, governance, social-harmony, and human-capital objectives, and identifies limits in coverage, digital access, and unemployment protection.

Date: 2026-05-20
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://osf.io/download/6a0d7fc8d057ac53d515492d/

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:du3gb_v1

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/du3gb_v1

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SocArXiv from Center for Open Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by OSF ().