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
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