Government considering amendments to Minimum Wages Act
Picture for representational purpose only.
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.
