The Centre will soon announce a ₹350/day minimum wage rate for unskilled agricultural labour.
“On November 1, a notification of enhancement of minimum wages is likely to be issued,” Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told reporters here on Friday.
The Minister said that for now the ₹350/day wage rate would be an advisory to States, but it would later become statutory.
“All States will have to comply, as the Ministry plans to amend the Minimum Wages Act to usher in a ‘universal minimum wage’”, he said, adding that at present, farm labour in the Central sphere is paid as per the national minimum wage floor of up to ₹160/day, he added.
Incidentally, States such as Kerala, Tripura and Maharashtra pay a higher rate and already have a separate law on minimum wages for agricultural workers, the most vulnerable section among the 94 per cent of unorganised sector workers in the country.
Welcoming the decision, Suneet Chopra, General Secretary, All India Agricultural Workers Union, said: “We are happy. But to make a real difference to farm labour, especially the large number of women, MGNREGA should be also covered by this.” The union is at present holding countrywide padyataras demanding a “comprehensive legislation” on minimum wages and social security for farm workers, among other things.
The Centre’s move follows a 42 per cent hike in minimum wages announced for non-agricultural workers in August, ahead of a country-wide strike call by 11 central trade unions.
2 Bills in Winter session Dattatreya said that two labour reform Bills are likely to be introduced in the Winter session of Parliament, which begins on November 16.
The reforms include four labour codes, of which Bills on two will come to Parliament, as “we have completed tripartite consultation on the labour code on wages and code on industrial relations,” he said.