Call for Papers: National Conference on Balancing the Scales, A Critical Analysis of India's Four Labour Codes at ICFAI Law School, Bangalore [Offline, 24 October 2026; Awards Rs 12,000]

The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE) is a deemed-to-be university established under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, and is accredited with an A++ grade by NAAC. Its Faculty of Law is one of the university's four faculties, alongside management, science and technology, and social sciences.

ICFAI Law School, IFHE Off Campus, Bangalore is a constituent unit of IFHE. Following Bar Council of India approval in 2023, it began its integrated law programme in 2024 and offers the five-year BBA.LL.B. (Hons.) at its campus on the Bengaluru-Mysore highway at Kengeri.

The one-day National Conference on Balancing the Scales: A Critical Analysis of India's Four Labour Codes will be held offline on 24 October 2026 at the Bangalore campus.

Twenty-nine central labour statutes have been consolidated into four Codes: the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. The government presents them as a long-overdue simplification that eases compliance and extends protection to gig, platform and unorganised-sector workers. Trade unions and worker-rights groups argue that provisions such as the relaxed retrenchment and layoff norms and the 75% support threshold before a union can call a legal strike tilt the balance towards employers.

The conference takes this tension between worker protection and economic flexibility as its central inquiry. It also asks whether the Codes stay faithful to constitutional guarantees on livelihood and freedom of association, whether they meet international labour standards, and whether handing rule-making to the States risks an uneven system of protection. The aim is not a single verdict but a body of scholarship on where the balance lies and what recalibration, if any, is needed.

The list is indicative, not exhaustive; papers on closely related aspects of the four Labour Codes are also welcome.

• Critical analysis of the Code on Wages
• The Industrial Relations Code and the future of collective bargaining
• Retrenchment, layoffs and job security under the new regime
• The Code on Social Security: coverage versus enforceability
• Social security for gig and platform workers
• Occupational safety, health and working conditions: protection or deregulation?
• Constitutional validity and fundamental rights
• Compliance with International Labour Organisation standards
• Federalism and labour law: Centre-State tensions
• Impact on women workers
• Migrant and inter-State workers under the new Codes
• Informal and unorganised sector workers
• Contract labour and fixed-term employment
• MSMEs and the compliance burden
• Dispute resolution mechanisms under the new Codes
• From old law to new Code: a comparative assessment
• Child labour, bonded labour and vulnerable groups
• Judicial interpretation and emerging case law
• Technology, automation and the changing nature of work
• The road ahead: policy recommendations for reform

• Abstract: 300 to 400 words with at least five keywords, accompanied by a title page giving the title of the paper, author name(s), email ID, contact number, designation and institutional affiliation.
• Co-authorship: a maximum of two authors, but only one author may present.
• Full paper (after abstract acceptance): 4,000 to 5,000 words inclusive of footnotes, Bluebook 20th edition, footnotes only for referencing.
• The full paper must carry no personal details of the authors (name, affiliation, email and so on).
• All submissions must be original and unpublished. The similarity index must not exceed 10% (excluding properly cited quotations, references and bibliography), and a Turnitin similarity report must be attached to the full paper.
• MS Word format only for both the abstract and the full paper.
• Formatting: body in Times New Roman 12 pt, 1.5 line spacing, justified, 1-inch margins; footnotes in Times New Roman 10 pt, single spacing, justified.

• The conference is offline only, on campus at 231, Mysore Road, Kengeri, Bengaluru 560060.
• Papers are presented before a panel of experts who judge the presentations. At least one author of every accepted paper must attend and present; audio-visual aids and PowerPoint may be used.
• A certificate of participation is given to all registered participants.
• Selected full papers will be published in an edited book with an ISBN by a reputed publisher, or in a peer-reviewed journal with an ISSN.
• The brochure also says that a select few of the best papers, on the review committee's recommendation and subject to the publication guidelines, will be published in a Scopus-indexed journal. It does not name the journal; the organiser says publication details will be communicated separately.

Register and pay only after you receive the abstract acceptance email. The registration and payment guidelines and link are sent to the email ID you give when submitting the abstract.

• IFHE students: Rs 300
• Students of other colleges and universities: Rs 1,200
• Research scholars, professionals and academicians: Rs 1,500

The fee covers the conference kit, breakfast, lunch and refreshments on the conference day. It does not cover travel or accommodation.

• Submit your abstract with the title page through the official abstract submission Google Form by 4 October 2026. The form needs you to be signed in to a Google account.
• Acceptance is communicated by 6 October 2026.
• If accepted, complete registration and fee payment by 8 October 2026 through the link emailed to you.
• Present at the conference on 24 October 2026, and submit the full paper through the full paper submission form by 30 October 2026.

Queries go to ils.bng@ifheindia.org.