Under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, an employer must take the prior permission of the appropriate government for lay-off, retrenchment or closure if the establishment employs at least

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 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.

The correct answer is C, the Concurrent List. Entry 22 covers trade unions and industrial and labour disputes, Entry 23 social security and social insurance including employment and unemployment, and Entry 24 the welfare of labour including conditions of work and provident funds, so both Parliament and the state legislatures can legislate, and each state notifies its own rules under the codes. Option A is wrong because the Union List deals with defence, foreign affairs, railways, banking and the like. Option B is wrong because the State List covers public order, police, land, agriculture and public health, though labour welfare is often wrongly placed there. Option D is wrong because residuary powers under Article 248 apply only to matters in none of the three lists, and labour is expressly listed.