CHENNAI: The State government is in the process of preparing draft rules on labour codes following the Union government's notification of rules for the four new Labour Codes, Minister for Labour Welfare CV Ganesan said on Friday.

Replying to a query raised by CPI MLA T Ramachandran during the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address in the Assembly, the Minister said the Union government had notified draft rules for the four new Labour Codes, the Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security, Code on Wages, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code.

The State government would release separate draft rules, taking into account all aspects, including the welfare of labourers and schemes implemented through labour welfare boards, he said.

Participating in the debate, DMK MLA Abdul Samad urged the government to include Urdu in the list of languages eligible for the State government's recently announced literary awards.

Meanwhile, VCK MLA M Sinthanai Selvan demanded the formation of a Commission for Social Justice to assess the reach of government welfare schemes.