Delhi government set to hike minimum wage

Ahead of the Independence Day, the Delhi government is set to increase the minimum wages by 30-40 per cent. “A Cabinet decision on this regard is expected before August 15,” Mr Rai said.

A high-level committee headed by the labour department commissioner for revision of the minimum wages in the national capital will submit its report to the government this week.

Among the neighbouring states, including Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, Delhi has the highest minimum wage in unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled categories.

The existing minimum rates of wages are Rs 9,568 for unskilled workers, Rs 10,582 for semi-skilled workers and Rs 11,622 for skilled workers, according to the government.

The minimum wages of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers in neighbouring Haryana are Rs 7,976.20, Rs 8,793.76 and Rs 9,695.12, in Rajasthan it is Rs 5,225, Rs 5,486 and Rs 5,746, respectively, while in Uttar Pradesh it is Rs 7,107.64, Rs 7,818.4 and Rs 8,757.85, respectively, an official release said.

“The Delhi government has taken the decision to revise minimum wages after reviewing the average cost incurred per family on food, accommodation, electricity, clothing and education,” Mr Rai said.

“This is also in keeping with the electoral promise of the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government to improve the quality of life of labourers,” Mr Rai added.

To achieve this, the minister added, the government, under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, constituted a high-level 13-member tripartite body of employees, with representatives from the employee and employer associations and the government.

According to the labour minister, the committee concluded its five rounds of meeting on Thursday.

He said the committee — which also includes industry bodies, like the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (Assocham) — surveyed and collected prices of essential food items from various worker populated areas like Mangolpuri, Narela, Okhla, Jhilmil Colony and Wazirpur.

Prices of food items were also obtained from Kendriya Bhandar, Mother Dairy and Safal outlets to examine and calculate the proposed increase in minimum wages.

Explaining the methodology, Mr Rai said that revision of minimum wages is calculated on the basis of cost of various food items and the requirement of 2,731 calories per worker per day as prescribed by the National Nutrition Institute, Hyderabad.

In addition to food, other components, like housing (10 per cent), education (25 per cent) fuel and power (20 per cent) and clothing (72 per cent), which have been decided by Indian Labour Conference 1957, have also been taken into consideration by the committee.

“In the past, the labour department has been notifying increase in dearness allowance (DA) twice in a year i.e. April and October, to mitigate the impact of inflation on the labourers,” Mr Rai said that.