האגודה הישראלית לחקר יחסי עבודה

Rs 14,000 a month is overestimated as it is based on flawed calorific arithmetic, industry has alleged in a missive to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.

Industry representatives have approached the L-G’s office red-flagging the calculation methodology, which they claim has led to an overestimation of the revised wage threshold in the Arvind Kejriwal government’s proposal.

However, Delhi Labour Commissioner’s Office has refuted the claim and is sticking to its calculations.

Another lobby body, the Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an association of industry in the National Capital Region, has also apprised Mr. Jung of its pending writ petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the constitution of the wage committee following which the Lieutenant Governor had sent the file back to the Delhi government earlier this month.

Each State can fix its own minimum wage level for industries based on spending estimates for a working class family on 2,700 calories of food per person, 72 yards clothes, minimum housing rent and education and light and fuel, as prescribed by the Indian Labour Conference in 1957.

In Delhi’s case, industrial chambers have written to Mr. Jung opposing the calculations adopted by the Delhi government to arrive at the proposed minimum wages.

The State has proposed that unskilled workers should now get at least Rs 14,052 a month from Rs 9,568 at present, semi-skilled workers must be paid Rs 15,471 as opposed to Rs 10,582 and Rs 17,033 a month for skilled workers, up from Rs 11,622 now payable.

The industry has argued that the food and beverages items for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner meals taken into account to compute the minimum wage level for workers in Delhi had much higher calorific value of 3,447 calories than the minimum requirement of 2,700 calories per adult per day.

The expenditure on food, which constitutes roughly around 65 per cent of the entire wage component, was thereby overestimated the industry body claimed.

The Hindu has reviewed a copy of the documents submitted by a leading industry chamber to Mr. Jung.

The body has also written to Delhi Labour Commissioner A.K. Singh urging him to re-compute the proposed minimum wage rates.

Calculations

“Our calculations were based on the list of food items along with the required quantity prescribed for a worker by government body National Institute of Nutrition based in Hyderabad. The Seventh Pay Commission had also based its calculation on 2,700 calories food requirement for a worker per day. We then computed the cost of such food items based on Kendriya Bhandar rates,” Delhi Additional Labour Commissioner Dr. Rajender Dhar toldThe Hindu.

Mr Dhar said industry had never challenged the formula during the deliberations by a 13-member wage committee. “Whenever we have proposed hiking the minimum wage level in Delhi, the industry has always opposed it,” he said.

In its letter, the industry body has pointed out that cost of meat, eggs and pulses were considered to calculate the minimum wage rate whereas the dietary guidelines of National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad has suggested that egg or meat be taken in lieu of a portion of pulses.

It also argued that while Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines say that a person with moderate physical activity should consume 30 ml of oil and five grams of salt per day, it has been factored three times while calculating the cost of food taking the total quantity of oil to 90 ml and salt to 15 grams.

While trade unions had cheered the move to increase minimum wages steeply, industry had unanimously registered its opposition in the meeting of the wage committee.

“Rahul Chaudhry, Vice Chairman – Delhi, Confederation of Indian Industry pointed out that in other metro cities and neighbouring states minimum wages is not beyond Rs. 8,000 per month and in comparison to that Delhi is already 20 per cent higher on minimum wages,” the minutes of the meeting said.

Our calculations were based on the list of food items along with the required quantity prescribed for a worker by government body National Institute of Nutrition

Original Source