India's Minimum Wage Unchanged Since 2017; Most States Fall Short: Report
India’s minimum wage has remained unchanged for the past eight years, suggesting prevalent economic crises in the country. The non-binding National Floor Level Minimum Wage (NFLMW) has remained the same since 2017, while expenses have steadily increased with inflation, worsening the income crisis among vast sections of the population, reports Financial Express.
The major section of the population who has struggled with the trend is the daily-wage workers. The report pointed out that proper and timely revision of NFLMW by the Center would have helped millions of workers in sectors like plantations and services to benefit from the economy’s buoyancy and thus escape hardship.
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Most states keep minimum wages for many ‘scheduled jobs’ lower than the NFLMW, and there are also huge disparities between the minimum wages actually enforced among states and across sectors. The minimum wage for an unskilled worker in Delhi stands at Es 710 per day. Meanwhile, the wage of the same in Bihar is Rs 428. Notably, in some states, like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the actual wages are generally higher than the notified minimum.
According to labor economist K R Shyam Sundar, though the NDA government has taken credit for having passed the Wage Code in August 2019, none of the four labor codes has been implemented. He noted that the minimum wage is the bare minimum a worker should get.
“If it is not revised periodically, labor welfare will be seriously affected. It is time for the NDA government to implement the Wage Code and establish a statutory national floor-level minimum wage, which will benefit millions of workers,” The Economic Times quoted Sundar.
