11:14 PM
Amresh
Background
A tripartite Committee Viz.,"The Committee on Fair Wage" was set up in
1948 to provide guidelines for wage structures in the country. The
report of this Committee was a major landmark in the history of
formulation of wage policy in India. Its recommendations set out the key
concepts of the `living wage', "minimum wages" and "fair wage" besides
setting out guidelines for wage fixation. Article 39|- The State shall,
in particular, direct its policy towards securing (a) that the citizen,
men and women equally shall have the right to an adequate livelihood and
(b) that there is equal pay for equal work for both men and women.
Article 43 |- The State shall endeavour, by suitable legislation or
economic organisation or in any other way, to give all workers,
agricultural, industrial or otherwise, work, a living wage, conditions
of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of
leisure, and social and cultural opportunities. Enactment of the Minimum
Wages Act Historical Backdrop * The initiative started with the
resolution placed by one Shri K.G.R.Choudhary in 1920 for setting up
Boards for determination of minimum wages in each industry. * The
International Labour Conference adopted in 1928 Convention No.26 and
Recommendation No. 30 relating to wage fixing machinery in trades or
parts of trades. * On the recommendation of the Standing Labour
Committee and Indian Labour Conference, a Labour Investigation Committee
was appointed in 1943 to investigate into the question of wages and
other matters like housing, social conditions and employment. * A draft
bill was considered by the Indian Labour Conference in 1945. * The 8th
meeting of the Standing Labour Committee recommended in 1946 to enact a
separate legislation for the unorganised sector including working hours,
minimum wages and paid holidays. * A Minimum Wages Bill was introduced
in the Central Legislative Assembly on 11.4.46 to provide for fixation
of minimum wages in certain employments. It was passed in 1946 and came
into force with effect from 15.3.48. Under the Act, Central and State
Governments are appropriate Governments to (a) notify scheduled
employment (b) fix/revise minimum wages The Act contains list of all
these employments for which minimum wages are to be fixed by the
appropriate Governments. There are two parts of the Schedule. Part I has
non-agricultural employments whereas Part-II has employment in
agriculture. Criteria for notification of scheduled employment The
appropriate Government fixes the minimum wage in respect of only those
scheduled employments where the number of employees is 1000 or more.
Fixation/revision of minimum wages Norms The norms include those which
were recommended by the Indian Labour Conference in its session held in
1957 at Nainital. (i) 3 consumption units for one earner. (ii) Minimum
food requirements of 2700 calories per average Indian adult. (iii)
Clothing requirements of 72 yards per annum per family. (iv) Rent
corresponding to the minimum area provided for under Government's
Industrial Housing Scheme. (v) Fuel, lighting and other Miscellaneous
items of expenditure to constitute 20% of the total Minimum Wages. Other
parameters (i) "Children education, medical requirement, minimum
recreation including festivals/ceremonies and provision for old age,
marriage etc. should further constitute 25% of the total minimum wage."
This judgment was delivered by the Supreme Court of India in 1991 in the
case of Reptakos Brett and Co.Vs.its workmen. (ii) Local conditions and
other factors influencing the wage rate. Methods for fixation/revision
of minimum wages Fixation Section 3 empowers appropriate Government to
fix the minimum rates of wages in the scheduled employments. Revision
Revise the Minimum rates at an appropriate interval of not exceeding
five years. Procedure for Fixation/Revision In Section 5 of the Minimum
Wages Act,1948, two methods have been provided for fixation/revision of
minimum wages. They are Committee method and Notification method.
Committee Method Under this method, committees and sub-committees are
set up by the appropriate Governments to hold enquiries and make
recommendations with regard to fixation and revision of minimum wages,
as the case may be. Notification method In this method, Government
proposals are published in the Official Gazette for information of the
persons likely to be affected thereby and specify a date not less than
two months from the date of the notification on which the proposals will
be taken into consideration. After considering advice of the
Committees/Sub-committees and all the representations received by the
specified date in Notification method, the appropriate Government shall,
by notification in the Official Gazette, fix/revise the minimum wage in
respect of the concerned scheduled employment and it shall come into
force on expiry of three months from the date of its issue. Variable
Dearness Allowance (VDA) It was recommended in the Labour Ministers'
Conference held in 1988, to evolve a mechanism to protect wages against
inflation by linking it to rise in the Consumer Price Index. The
Variable Dearness Allowance came into being in the year 1991. The
allowance is revised twice a year, once on 1st April and then on 1st
October. In the State Sphere, 22 States/Union Territories have
provisions for Variable Dearness Allowance, at present. Enforcement
Machinery The enforcement of the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act in
the Central Sphere , is secured through the officers of Central
Industrial Relations Machinery. In so far as State Sphere is concerned,
the enforcement is the responsibility of the respective State
Government/Union Territory. National Wage Policy Though it is desirable
to have a National Wage Policy it is difficult to conceive a concept of
the same. The National Wage Policy has been discussed on many occasions
in different fora. Because fixation of wages depends on a number of
criteria like local conditions, cost of living and paying capacity also
varies from State to State and from industry to industry, it would be
difficult to maintain uniformity in wages. The Indian Labour Conference,
held in November, 1985 expressed the following views- “Till such time a
national wage is feasible, it would be desirable to have regional
minimum wages in regard to which the Central Government may lay down the
guidelines. The Minimum Wages should be revised at regular periodicity
and should be linked with rise in the cost of living” Accordingly, the
Government issued guidelines in July, 87 for setting up of Regional
Minimum Wages Advisory Committees. These Committees renamed subsequently
as Regional Labour Ministers’ Conference, made a number of
recommendations which include reduction in disparities in minimum wages
in different states of a region, setting up of inter-state Coordination
Council, consultation with neighbouring States while fixing/revising
minimum wages etc.
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