Shramik Nyay: Congress Spells Out Welfare Plan For Workers, Agricultural Labourers

New Delhi, March 26: The Congress today spelt out its agenda for providing massive relief to the labouers and agricultural workers. The party said that this section of the society had suffered the worst during the last ten years of the Modi regime and deserved special attention.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here today, senior party leader and former MP Sandeep Dikshit said that once the INDIA government is formed at the centre, the minimum daily wages will be Rs 400, besides the workers and labourers will be brought under health insurance cover.

He also announced that Congress will also bring a law for urban employment. This will also include comprehensive social security including health and accident insurance cover.

Besides, he added, the contractual system of employment will be abolished and regular jobs will be provided.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said in a tweet that the growth rate of wages between 2014-15 and 2021-22 was less than one percent per year during the tenure of the Modi government.

He disclosed that the growth rate of wages for farm workers was only 0.9 percent while it was just 0.2 percent for construction workers and . 0.3 percent for non-agricultural workers. Drawing comparisons with the Congress led UPA-2 between 2009 and 2014, he said, the real agricultural and non-agricultural rural wages grew at the rate of 8.6 percent and 6.9 percent per year respectively.

In contrast, he pointed out, the growth rate of real rural wages in the second term of the Modi government has become negative for both agriculture (-0.6 percent) and non-agricultural rural wages (-1.4 percent).

The Modi government, he said, has snatched the right to work from seven crore people in the last two years. “That is why Congress has accorded top priority to Shramik Nyay”, he said.

Sandeep Dikshit said that the worst impact of the Modi government has been on agricultural labourers and workers. He said, the economy saw a decline due to the reduction in employment and this increased dependence on agriculture.

Between 2004 and 2014, the number of people working in agriculture had continuously decreased, he said, while adding, at the same time, since 2016-17, 41 percent of the people were dependent on farming, meaning that there were no or very little job avenues elsewhere.

He disclosed that till 2018-19, more than three crore people had joined the agriculture labour. He said, after 2014-15, about 6.5 crore people have migrated from other places and gone into agriculture. He said, this has happened for the first time in country’s history.