Best of BS Opinion: Labour push, COP30 letdown, and tough realities

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

The Union government’s rollout of the four labour codes signals long-awaited movement in overhauling India’s fragmented labour framework. Only sections that do not require new rules have been notified for now, but revised drafts are imminent. Our first editorial notes that once fully enforced, the codes will streamline compliance, ease paperwork and raise the retrenchment and closure threshold from 100 to 300 workers, a significant shift for industry. At the same time, worker safeguards expand meaningfully through mandatory appointment letters, minimum wages and timely payments. While MSMEs may face a short-term cost rise, the combined momentum of the codes and the proposed Shram Shakti Niti could lift formalisation and productivity. 

Meanwhile, our second editorial underlines the sombre end to COP30 in Belém, where a fossil fuel phase-out roadmap, which was the summit’s core expectation, collapsed under geopolitical tension. The EU pressed aggressively, while BRICS nations resisted on equity concerns, the United States remained disengaged, and Saudi Arabia’s negotiating weight helped strip the clause entirely. Contentious issues such as the EU’s carbon border tax were deferred. Climate finance commitments again disappointed, offering just a third of what vulnerable nations require, leaving COP31 in Turkiye to shoulder a heavier diplomatic lift. 

Ajay Shah writes that anger over weak IPO listings risks prompting harmful regulatory overreach. He argues that India’s primary market is stronger than public sentiment suggests, with five consecutive years of healthy issuance since 2021 after decades of volatility. Losses in overvalued IPOs, he notes, reflect investor choices rather than policy lapses. SEBI’s mandate is disclosure, not risk protection, and separating listing from offering could further strengthen transparency. 

And Surinder Sud highlights how India’s pulses deficit has persisted despite five decades of schemes. Imports continue to surge, yields remain stuck at 0.74 tonnes per hectare and acreage is shrinking as farmers shift to more profitable crops. He argues that the new Dalhan Aatmanirbharta Mission repeats earlier strategies without addressing core constraints such as pricing incentives, procurement reliability and irrigation gaps. 

Finally, Joshua Hammer reviews Simon Winchester’s The Breath of the Gods, praising its rich blend of science, history and narrative detail. Winchester’s accounts, from the mistral to the winds that shaped the Spanish Armada and Chernobyl fallout, illustrate how air currents have steered human events. Hammer notes that while the book occasionally meanders, its portraits of pioneers like James Blyth and Walter Munk, and its reflection on a possible global “Great Stilling,” make it an engaging, thought-provoking read. 

Stay tuned!