LABOUR MINISTER FAVOURS ENACTMENT OF A STATUTE
FOR SOCIAL SECURITY TO UNORGANISED WORKERS
CENTRE CONSIDERING AMENDMENT TO
MINIMUM WAGES ACT TO MAKE ITS IMPLEMENTATION MORE STRINGENT
The Labour Minister Shri Sharad Yadav favours
enactment of a statute for providing social security protection
to the workers in the unorganised sector. Presiding over the Central
Advisory Board meeting to consider removal of disparity in minimum
wages here today, Shri Yadav said that this is necessary as they
are easily vulnerable to social and economic exploitation. He
said that the two basic elements of social security are ‘minimum
living’ and the selective redistribution of income in order to
reduce inequalities. He said that non-payment or less-payment
of legitimate minimum wage is one of the major factors for poverty
in the country. Shri Yadav said that the position in this regard
varies from region to region. He said that the Central Government
is considering to amend Minimum Wages Act to make punishment for
its non-enforcement more deterrent. The Labour Minister said that
he has recently written to all Chief Ministers to ensure that
the minimum wages for the scheduled employments in their respective
states/union territories are not fixed below the minimum floor
level wage. Shri Yadav said that we have to ensure implementation
of minimum wage in a manner that it does not endanger the employment
of poor workers.
Earlier welcoming the Members of the Board, the
Labour Secretary Dr. P.D. Shenoy called for reducing the disparities
in the rates of minimum wages in various parts of the country.
He said that the disparities are due to differences in socio-economic
and agro-climatic conditions, cost of living, productivity etc.
Dr. Shenoy added that it may not be too far off when we would
have a single minimum wage at least at the regional level.
Participating in the discussion, majority of
the members wanted that minimum wages should be incorporated in
the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to ensure its enforcement.
They also wanted that a policy should be framed for fixing the
minimum wages. The members wanted that the meeting of the Board
should be held at least once in a year to review the situation.
The floor level minimum wage was enhanced to
Rs.45 per day with effect from 30th November 1999.
The floor level minimum wage was mooted by the Centre in 1996
in the absence of a uniform national wage policy. It was fixed
at Rs. 35 per day which was subsequently increased to Rs.40/-
in 1998. In the Central sphere, the number of scheduled employments
is 45 whereas in the State sphere their number is 1232.
The representatives of BMS, INTUC, UTUC (Lenin
Sarani) AITUC, CITU, UTUC, and NFITU from the employees side and
CIE, Laghu Udyog Bharti, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries,
Bhartiya Kisan Sangh and ministries of Mines and Railways from
the employers side and senior officials of the Labour Ministry
participated in the meeting.
