Despite the apex court saying that minimum pay is a fundamental right, the centre has made no attempt to harmonise these with statutory minimum remuneration of agricultural labourers in states
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his colleagues in the NDA government and the BJP never tire of reiterating their slogan, Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas or of talking about Antyodaya, a doctrine which talks about the “rise of the last person”.
Yet, if draft recommendations of the Nagesh Singh Committee constituted by the ministry of rural development are anything to go by, it is evident that the government’s plank of working for the “last man” is confined to poll slogans. This Committee was constituted to look into harmonising minimum wages prescribed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with statutory minimum wages of agricultural labourers in states.
While the Committee submitted its report to the centre in July 2017, the government has been steadfast in rejecting demands for making public the recommendations that were accepted. But there has also been no attempt by the government to deny or counter reports that have been carried in some sections of the media about the final outline of the Committee’s report. It seems that the final recommendations have endorsed the draft report’s view that “there is no compelling argument for convergence of minimum wages for agricultural labour and wages notified for MGNREGA workers”.
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