India doesn’t have national minimum wage -Governance Now

India doesn’t have national minimum wage

The Code on Wages Bill 2017 subsumes Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Payment of Wages Act, 1936; Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

GN Bureau | September 5, 2017

#national minimum wage #employment #labour

(Illustration: Ashish Asthana)

The central government has not fixed or mentioned any amount as “national minimum wage” in the Code on Wages Bill 2017, it was clarified on Tuesday.

“The apprehension that minimum wage of Rs.18000 per month has been fixed for all employees is, thus incorrect, false and baseless. The minimum wages will vary from place to place depending upon skill required, arduousness of the work assigned and geographical location,” said a PIB release.

As part of labour law reforms, the government has undertaken the exercise of rationalisation of the 38 Labour Acts by framing 4 labour codes viz Code on Wages, Code on Industrial Relations, Code on Social Security and Code on occupational safety, health and working conditions.

The Code on Wages Bill 2017 has been introduced in Lok Sabha on August 10, 2017 and it subsumes 4 existing Laws, viz. the Minimum Wages Act, 1948; the Payment of Wages Act, 1936; the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.

After the enactment of the Code on Wages, all these four Acts will get repealed. The Codification of the Labour Laws will remove the multiplicity of definitions and authorities leading to ease of compliance without compromising wage security and social security to the workers.

The new Code on Wages will ensure minimum wages to one and all and timely payment of wages to all employees irrespective of the sector of employment without any wage ceiling.

Penalties for different types of violations under this Code have been rationalized with the amount of fines varying as per the gravity of violations and repeat of the offences.

Provision of compounding of offences has been made for those which are not punishable by a penalty of imprisonment.

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