Mimum Wages In Uttar Pradesh

A long ignored question is , What must be minimum wages for the man standing last in the row ,the one who gets pinched every time inflation shoots up and further complicate life for this man on the lowest rung ,long waiting for his chance to climb up the social ladder .In every case ,no govt. has any  right to build growth on corpses of masses who sure have all entitlements, being a member of that same species – homo-sapiens  ,which has made great strides in evolutionary journey from naked ,flesh eating cave dwelling animal to modern day elite ; some even touching such heights that they could now smell only ozone.

How could we call a system of governance the ultimate if it has lot many posers yet to be answered.Growth is desire but at what cost and how, are the burning issues which should not be left to market forces ,whose sole motive is profit . The recent global crisis offered us some very important lessons , which we failed to take , yet again and continue to live in castles built in air – far from ground realities .How else ? the economist all over concluded the economic melt-down as a result of a greed of a few individuals and corporations – crony capitalism .Whatever , what ought not to be forgotten is – people can’t be kept in shackles for ever  and you can’t do without them .So if overthrow is to be avoided in some future ,it will be better to ensure the minimum to all ,to justify each his human dignity.

Sirs / Mams , the govt. of Uttar-Pradesh has proposed minimum wages for un-skilled worker as Rs.4500 /- , Rs5100 /- for semiskilled and Rs.5700 /- per month through a notification no.741 / 36-3-2011 on 30th June 2011 ; it called for suggestions and objections . In such cases ,Uttar- Pradesh Govt. has lawfully constituted a Minimum Wage Advisory Board  in which govt. ,worker and employer  representatives are present .It is most unfortunate that no suggestions and opinions were sought from the board and straight away the above proposal was notified unilaterally.This certainly is blatant misuse of power by bureaucracy against the very spirit of democracy and thus deserve condemnation from all stake holders together with all other up-holders of democratic values.

Another sore is that 15th Labor Commission ,decades back set certain principles and standards for fixing of minimum wages but still those recommendation have not been taken into account and this proposal is there against the interests of workers and a poor offer is there to continue exploitation of working classes.Analyzing the standards set by 15th Labor Commission and time to time interpretation by the Honorable Supreme Court , the minimum wages for an un-skilled worker comes down to Rs.11054.90 per month.

Since past few years unprecedented price increase has been witnessed and the purchasing power of Rupee is eroding sharply and is almost negligible at present , in such circumstances ,the published rates for minimum wages is not only low but also insufficient .Even the adjoining state of Delhi has implemented Rs.6084 /- for unskilled ,Rs.6734 /- for semi-skilled and Rs.7410 /- for skilled worker in February 2011. Sometime back Central Govt. revised wages for its employees adopting recommendations of  6th Pay Commission and thereby  declared wages of class fourth employee way above Rs. 11000 /- per month.

Hence it is suggested to amend the notified proposal and declare Rs.11000 /- per month as minimum wages for un-skilled worker and it will be most appropriate in the existing  circumstances .