JOIN USThe Labour department has readied a draft notification which seeks to guarantee a minimum wage of Rs 10,520 per month to about 30 lakh non-skilled labourers across 23 sectors.
At the launch of the department’s new web portal “Karmika Sahayoga” and website “karlabour.in” on Friday, Labour Minister P T Parameshwar Naik said: “The draft is already published for consultation, which will be subsequently reviewed by the advisory committee. It will then be forwarded to the State government for approval. The procedure will take at least three months.”
“The revision will benefit about 30 lakh non-skilled labourers in the State,” the minister added.
The draft is being revised intending to bring uniformity in the payment of wages based on work. Besides, the semi-skilled, skilled and highly-skilled employees will receive higher amount of wages, said Naik.
The minister pointed out that the occupational sectors such as food preservation and processing industry, timber, road and building construction firms, private finance corporation and chit funds, ayurvedic and allopathic medicine production firms, hospital and nursing home, cinema and public motor transport industries are among the 23 sectors, which will come under the proposed revised minimum wages.
Incentives for education
To encourage children of construction workers to pursue higher education, the department will provide incentives from next academic year, the minister said. “We have already conducted a joint meeting with the Department of Education and Department of Social Welfare. Those who take up post graduation, engineering or Ph.D will be given Rs 2,000 a month as incentive with the help of Karmikara Kalyana Mandali,” he said.
Besides, Naik said that as many as 2,410 employees are working in 196 aided-private ITI institutes across the State without gratuity, pension and other benefits. Hence, the department has agreed to provide these facilities to 1,888 employees, while we are awaiting for details of 13 other institutes, he pointed out. The minister said that the State government has allotted grants of Rs 300 crore for the construction of multi-purpose Karmika Kalyana Bhavana in all the districts with the budget of Rs 8 to Rs 10 crore. The building will be exclusively meant for the welfare of labourers and their children. Besides, the department plans to start residential schools for the children of labourers in the future, he said.
The department signed an MoU with Visvesvaraya Technological University to start the Central government’s Recognition of Prior Learning, which aims to provide skill development training in bar bending, masonry, shuttering carpentry, plumbing, painting and scaffolding.
Sectors under ambit
Food preservation and processing industry, timber, road and building construction firms, private finance corporation and chit funds, ayurvedic and allopathic medicine production firms, hospital and nursing home, cinema and public motor transport industries are among the 23 sectors, which will come under the proposed revised minimum wages.