Tag Archives: minimum wages

Capitalism, Everyday Life, Government, Law, Metropolis, Movements, Scams

Deceit at the Hospital of Truth: Surendra Panchal

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Guest Post by Surendra Panchal

Sanitation Hospital Workers Strike at a Delhi Hospital over Non-Payment of Minimum Wages

Sanitation workers of the Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital (The Truthful King Harishchandra Hospital), Narela in Outer Delhi have started an indefinite dharna today, to protest their unjust dismissal when they asked to be paid the statutory minimum wage for unskilled work declared by the Delhi Government, Rs 7254 per month.

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Capitalism, Centre watch, Everyday Life, Government, Law

Democracy and the Politics Around NREGA: Ruchi Gupta

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Guest post by RUCHI GUPTA

Subverting Democracy [1]

It took 47 days of a protest sit-in in Jaipur to make the State budge[2]. It’s notable that the objective of this protracted protest wasn’t to coerce the government for an extra share of State resources but to hold the government accountable to the Constitution and its own laws. The protest, “mazdoor haq satyagraha” was staged by workers employed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to demand enforcement of their constitutional right to earn minimum wage. Even now after some initial encouraging signs, the matter seems to have stalled. Continue reading Democracy and the Politics Around NREGA: Ruchi Gupta →

Capitalism, Everyday Life, Politics

Conditions of contract labourers in JNU: Rashmi Singh

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This is a guest post by RASHMI SINGH. This article is based on the research conducted by the author on informal labour, for AMAN Trust.

The recently concluded Commonwealth Games have exposed the government’s contempt towards the working class in Delhi.Even though some sections of the media did highlight the terrible working conditions of the labourers, much of it got lost in the noise about corruption scandals and nationalist jingoism. In the aftermath of the games, the so-called fourth estate continues to focus its energies on the question of corruption, while everyone seems to have forgotten about the lakhs of construction workers who built the very edifice of the Games. Indeed, the dusty secrets of labour code violations during the Games have been relegated to just that – the dust of the city.

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Countryside, Law

Speaking of litigation: Anant Maringanti

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Guest post by ANANT MARINGANTI

Speaking of successful litigation, one day after what some may call the makings of India’s rainbow coalition celebrated the Delhi High Court’s final verdict in the Naz Foundation case, agricultural workers in Andhra Pradesh celebrated a favorable interim order in the APVVU (AP Agricultural Workers Union) case. Judge N.Ramamohana Rao of AP High Court ignored the Additional Solicitor General’s objections and ordered that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme wage rates be revised up from Rs 80 per day to the prevailing minimum wage of Rs 119 (111 and 112 in some areas) per day set by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. This will remain in force for 8 weeks. Of course, a favorable interim order does not imply that the final verdict will be favorable. But it bolsters the confidence of the contestants. It is a precious gift of time for solidarity building. And in this particular case, it will put an additional amount of a whopping Rs 31-40 per each of the 100 work days in a year in the hands of those availing work under the NREGA. It did not bring tears to the eyes, but in a general clime of judicial unresponsiveness to the claims of the poor it made many heave a sigh of relief. Continue reading Speaking of litigation: Anant Maringanti →