HomeFinance NewsRegional disparity in minimum wages to be removed by national floor wage, says govt

Regional disparity in minimum wages to be removed by national floor wage, says govt

"Workers welfare is on our top agenda. We want to make right to minimum wage universal," Nirmala Sitharaman said in a press conference on Thursday.

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By CNBCTV18.com May 14, 2020, 8:34:13 PM IST (Updated)

Regional disparity in minimum wages to be removed by national floor wage, says govt
The government on Thursday said it is planning to remove regional disparity in regional wage by working towards a 'national floor wage' concept.


"Workers welfare is on our top agenda. We are proposing a national floor-wise wage rate so that uniform wage rate prevails across states," Nirmala Sitharaman said while announcing the second tranche of economic stimulus package.

Currently, minimum wage covers only 30 percent of workforce.

While recalling earlier announcements, Sitharaman said that minimum wage for workers have been hiked from Rs 182 to Rs 202 per day.

"States and UTs have also been told to provide jobs to migrants," she said.

She further said Rs 10,000 crore has been spent in the last two months on creating 14.62 crore man-days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) to help migrant workers.

About 40-50 percent more persons have been enrolled as compared to May last year, she said.

Hemant Mallya, Senior Programme Lead, council on Energy Environment, meanwhile, hailed FM's announcement.

"Introducing a uniform national floor wage is a much-needed reform that will provide income security to over 180 million informal workers," he said.
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