New Delhi:
The government is considering a proposal to amend the Minimum Wages Act
1948, the Lok Sabha was informed on August 11. "The proposal to amend
the Minimum Wages Act 1948 is under consideration," Labour and
Employment Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the Lok Sabha in a written
reply. Under the provisions of Minimum Wages Act 1948, both central and
state governments are appropriate governments to fix, review and revise
mimimum wages of workers employed in the scheduled employment under
their respective jurisdiction, Tomar said.
The appropriate
governments have been empowered to notify any employment in the schedule
where the number of employees is 1,000 or more in a state and fix rates
of minimum wages in respect to employees employed therein, he said. The
minister said that presently there are 45 scheduled employments under
central sphere and the workers employed in various mini cement plants
and petroleum products outlets are not included in the scheduled
employment of central spehere.
The rates of minimum
wages fixed by central government are applicable to establishments under
its authority, railways administration, mines, oilfields, major ports
and corporations created under Acts of Parliament, he said. In the
unskilled section of agriculture sector, rates of wages including
Variable Dearness Allowance per day w.e.f April 1, 2014, are Rs 215, Rs
195 and Rs 193 in Area A, Area B and Area C respectively. Similarly for
the highly skilled in the same sector, it is Rs 283, 262 and Rs 235 for
Areas A, B and C respectively, he said.
Replying to another
question, Tomar said that there are 56,90,636 beedi workers in the
country as on July 31, 2014, in various states. Under various medical
assistance given to the beedi workers for different diseases, 31,74,440
workers benefited from various health schemes in 2013-14. He said that
there were 4,96,416 beneficiaries under educational schemes in 2013-14
while the number of beneficiaries under group insurance scheme in the
same period was 7,02,320.
Source: Deccan Chronicle News