The Uttar Pradesh government has increased minimum wages across worker categories after protests in Noida, with the revised rates effective from April 1. The decision follows consultations with employers and labour organisations and aims to address demands for higher wages and better working conditions.
The Odisha government has begun efforts to rescue five migrant workers from Kendrapada district who are reportedly stranded in Thailand. The workers, who travelled on tourist visas but were employed in a plywood company, claim they are being held against their will, denied wages, and subjected to harassment.
More often than not unskilled workers end up getting a raw deal.
Workers at an automotive components factory in Haryana, India, protested for two days demanding the implementation of a minimum wage hike announced by the state government. The protests led to detentions and police action, highlighting tensions over wages and working conditions.
Adityanath had earlier referred to a conspiracy angle behind the violence during the protest, which is currently under police investigation.
The Indian government has announced the replacement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, effective July 1. The new scheme aims to expand guaranteed wage employment and link it more closely with infrastructure development and climate resilience, but faces concerns from opposition parties and labour rights activists.
'Workers are the people who create all the wealth in this country. How can you call them anti-national?'
The Centre has announced that the Viksit Bharat -- Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act will come into force across the country from July 1, replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Maharashtra minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule suspects negligence and safety lapses at SBL Energy Limited in Nagpur, where a blast killed 19. An investigation is underway to determine accountability.
'...the enormous responsibility and faith the youth has put on his shoulders, that he is going to solve their problems.'
'Previously, contributing only 25 per cent of material costs, states now face burdens of 40 per cent to 100 per cent of total costs, ensuring poorer states will curb project approvals, directly stifling work demand.'
Sanjay Roy, convicted for the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2022, will initially work as a gardener at the Presidency Correctional Home where he is lodged. He will later be trained for other jobs such as tailoring, carpentry, or manufacturing of aluminium utensils. As an unskilled worker, Roy will be paid a daily wage of Rs 105.
'Poverty eradication is a continuous process. There is no full stop to it.'
This adjustment is aimed at helping workers cope with the rising cost of living, a labour ministry statement said.
To restrict the huge inflow of unskilled foreign workers, the UAE will soon start a closer examination of the skill levels of labourers seeking to enter the country.
Uttar Pradesh's leading export hubs are reeling under the impact of a steep 50 per cent tariff imposed by the US on Indian imports, with exporters warning of job losses, stalled orders and shrinking market access. Industry leaders from Noida, Kanpur and Varanasi said the tariff has put years of painstaking market-building at risk, even as protests and demonstrations erupted in several districts last week.
Hyundai Motor has over 2,200 permanent workers, around 3,500 trainees and another 5,000 contract workers in the Sriperumbudur facility
Any industrial policy is only as good as how it is applied and the other reforms that support it. This was as true 40 years ago as it is now, points out Debashis Basu.
In the draft rules, among 681 listed professions, armed security guards, supervisors, surveyors, and carpenters (class I) are proposed to be treated as highly skilled professionals; electricians, tailors and drivers are skilled; cooks and cobblers as semi-skilled and dairy coolies, office peons and sweepers as unskilled.
Severe skilled, unskilled shortage threatens to pull emergency brakes on India's industrial engine.
'The top 11 billionaires in India added so much to their wealth during the pandemic that it would have sustained MNREGA for 10 years or the ministry of health for 10 years.'
With the recent issues of ill-treatment of Indian workers in US and Middle East, Indian govt is also faced with the crisis of unorganised labour in India. There are 400 million workers in the unorganised sector in India that are living in subhuman conditions, are being exploited and do not get any financial benefits either. And, they fall beyond India's stringent labour laws. Unorganised Sector Worker's Social Security Bill is riddled with loopholes and yet remains undecided.
Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi in reply to a question said India's remittance from abroad is $27 billion which is the highest in the world.
The Orissa government has raised the minimum wages for the domestic helps. The minimum wage of such workers has been fixed at the same level as for the unskilled workers. So a domestic help will be entitled to get a basic wage of Rs 2,340 per month.
Unskilled workers from Asia will now require a basic understanding of the English language and knowledge of rules and regulations of United Arab Emirates to be able to work in that country.
The Karnataka government is also expected to follow suit and withdraw its decision to raise the variable DA.
Sanjay Dutt's cane-weaving work has earnt him some money in prison.
Jumbo King Pvt Ltd, which has branded 'vada pav' (bun with fried potato dumplings) will open 26 more outlets across Mumbai and take the total to 60 by March 2007.
This will incentivise employers to recruit unemployed persons and also bring into books the informal employees.
Anxious to return home after the spate of killings targeting minorities, non-locals and other civilians in the Valley, about 50 migrant labourers, many of them from Bihar, arrived at the Nowgam railway station late on Monday night from nearby Budgam district where they worked in brick kilns.
'We cannot leave our entire unorganised sector to the vagaries of market forces.'
For states like West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, where migration is high, the return of workers could be as much an opportunity as a liability. All states have launched portals to register migrant workers; additional fields like nature of employment and remuneration in the past 2-3 years are being added to help in skill mapping.
Redevelopment of the Central Vista Avenue, stretching from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate and has a deadline of December 2021, has achieved 60 per cent of physical progress, the Union housing and urban affairs ministry told the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Only 2.3 per cent of the Indian workforce has undergone skills training, compared to 68 per cent in the UK.
The government has also revised the minimum wages for unskilled non-farm workers upwards by 42 per cent to Rs 350 per day
The sector employs around 1 million skilled and unskilled workers directly and indirectly and decline in exports is a major worry for participants in the value chain.
'Nobody is talking about the inequality that is going to come.'
'This country's backwardness is exposed when Indians bribe, coax and cajole agents to get back-breaking jobs abroad to save a little money at home,' observes Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
The Shiv Sena on Thursday offered to provide "Marathi workers" to industrial units in and around Nashik following the exodus of many labourers in the wake of the anti-north Indian campaign led by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena earlier this month.
"Darr to lagta hai par bhook say zyada darr lagta hai (I am scared but I fear hunger more than death)," he said as he pointed to his kids adding "back home we won't be able to find two square meals".
