New Delhi, Nov. 27 -- Labour unions went on a nationwide strike on Wednesday to oppose India's four labour codes notified last week. These laws are as good as their enforcement. As a concurrent-list subject, labour is in the hands of Indian states, so it is for the latter to implement the new legal provisions crafted by the Centre.

Some of these do appear to dilute labour rights at a formal level. For example, earlier, a company with under 100 employees could undertake layoffs without a government nod; now that limit has gone up to 300. In practice, how easy it is to lay off workers often depends on how organized they are.

Where worker organizations are weak, employers have been able to downsize staff with ease (and with labour rules ta...