Article 43A of the Constitution, which directs the state to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, was added by which amendment?

The correct answer is B, twenty-nine. The four codes subsume twenty-nine central labour enactments: four in the Code on Wages, three in the Industrial Relations Code, nine in the Code on Social Security and thirteen in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code. Option A is wrong because twelve is far short of the number and corresponds to no stage of the exercise. Option C is wrong, though it is a tempting figure, because forty-four was the number of central labour laws often quoted as existing on the statute book before the reform, not the number brought into the codes. Option D is wrong because fifty-two matches neither figure. The simplest way to hold this in memory is the series four, three, nine and thirteen, which adds to twenty-nine and also tells you how large each code is.

The correct answer is B, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. These three Acts dealt with the registration of unions, the conditions of service to be published as standing orders, and the machinery for disputes, lay-off, retrenchment and closure, and all three subjects are now in one code. Option A is wrong because the Code on Wages carries the Payment of Wages, Minimum Wages, Payment of Bonus and Equal Remuneration Acts. Option C is wrong because the Code on Social Security carries the provident fund, state insurance, maternity benefit, gratuity and compensation laws. Option D is wrong because the safety code carries the Factories Act, the Mines Act, the Contract Labour Act and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act among others. Noting the three largest Acts in each code is the quickest way to answer such questions.

The correct answer is D, three hundred workers. The code raises the threshold from the earlier figure and also makes three hundred the point at which certified standing orders become compulsory, so one number serves two provisions. Option A is wrong because fifty is the threshold for the contract labour provisions of the safety code, a different subject. Option B is wrong because one hundred was the threshold under Chapter VB of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which the code replaces; candidates who revised from older material pick this. Option C is wrong because two hundred appears in none of the codes. The policy argument on both sides should also be known: employers call it flexibility to hire and adjust, while trade unions call it a dilution of protection against retrenchment.

The correct answer is A, the Code on Social Security, 2020. It defines a gig worker as one who works outside a traditional employer-employee relationship, a platform worker as one who gets work through an online platform, and an aggregator as the digital intermediary that connects buyer and seller, and it provides a social security fund for such workers. Option B is wrong because the Code on Wages deals with minimum wages, bonus and the payment of wages, though its coverage of all employees also benefits informal workers. Option C is wrong because the Industrial Relations Code is about unions, standing orders and disputes. Option D is wrong because the safety code deals with registration, safety, hours and welfare facilities. Aggregators contribute one to two per cent of their turnover to the fund.

The correct answer is B, the Central Government. It fixes a floor wage after taking into account the minimum living standards of a worker, and may set different floor wages for different geographical areas; no state may then fix a minimum wage below that floor. Option A is wrong because states fix minimum wages, not the floor wage, and the whole purpose of a national floor is to stop a race to the bottom between states. Option C is wrong because the Reserve Bank's mandate is monetary policy, currency and banking regulation, with no role in wage fixation. Option D is wrong because a Finance Commission recommends the sharing of central taxes and grants between the Union and the states for a five-year period. Minimum wages are to be reviewed at intervals not exceeding five years.