JOIN USA head of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Centre has began work on raising the national floor level minimum wages from the existing Rs 115 to Rs 135 per day.
The decision is likely to benefit scores of factory workers, who have been demanding the revision of wages.
The proposal of minimum wage hike was already vetted by the Ministry of Law and it will be placed before the Union Cabinet soon, a senior official from the Labour Ministry told Deccan Herald. The NFLMW (national floor level minimum wages) was last revised in 2001 and it was hiked to Rs 115 from Rs 100. The Ministry revises the wages time to time on the basis of increase in the Consumer Price Index (Industrial Worker).
Though small and medium scale enterprises might oppose the hike as it might increase production cost at the time of economic downturn, an official at the labour ministry argues that revision will prevent migration of labourers from industries to agriculture sector.
Many industries including textile have been complaining of shortage of labourers due to exodus of workers to National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) or agriculture due to peak season.
Interestingly, the centre’s latest proposal to revise minimum wages is much less than the labour unions’ demand of Rs 10,000 per month (Rs 333.33 a day) from the present figures of Rs 3,500 per month.