Page 273 - DMGT516_LABOUR_LEGISLATIONS

Labour Legislations

Notes to live a life consistent with human dignity”. Wages are not an economic abstraction but an
important price in society. Economically speaking, wages may be the price of labour, just as,
interest is the price of capital and profit the price of risk carrying, but from social point of view,
they are unique in that they not only constitute payment for this effort but also provide the
means of subsistence for those who supply the effort.
All over the world, wages and their problems have been assuming great importance with the
advancing economic and social development, which has for its result the larger proportion of
population gaining their living as employees, or wage earners. The same is the case with our
country. Though it is predominantly agricultural, but in recent years, it has made rapid strides
in the field of industrial and commercial development. This has resulted in an appreciable
increase in salaried and wage employment, and has thus, created the same labour problems,
including that of wages as in other developed and developing countries. For handling these
problems, the Government has already undertaken a number of statutory and other measures.
In regard to wages, there is a need to formulate a suitable wage policy, which may help to
maintain industrial peace, which is so essential for maintaining and promoting the economic
growth of the country. An objective of this policy is to set a floor to wages by establishing what
may be regarded as a social minimum which is to be designed to enable workman and his
family to maintain a certain minimum standard of living, in accordance with modern ideas as
understood in this country and permitted by the state of economy. It is in pursuance of this
objective the Government enacted the Minimum Wages Act in 1948, so that the worker may be
ensured wages at least sufficient to maintain his health and efficiency.

11.1 Minimum Wages and ILO

The need for regulating minimum wages has been gaining increasing attention, not only of the
governments of developing and developed countries, but also of the International Labour
Organisation at Geneva (ILO), which is formulating International Labour Standards for its
member countries since its very inception after the First World War. The ILO attached much
importance to the question of fixing minimum wages as far back as 1921, and the result of its
enquiry led to the adoption of a Convention No.20 and a Recommendation No.30 on minimum
wage fixing machinery 1928, covering only non-agriculture sector of employments. After
23 years, that is 1951, the ILO Conference at its 34th Session adopted a Minimum Wage Fixing
Convention No.99 and a Recommendation No.83 for agricultural employments. Since then a
number of conventions and recommendations have been adopted having important bearings
on the question of minimum wages.

11.2 Fixation of Minimum Wages in India

India has ratified the ILO convention on Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery and has enacted a
central minimum wage legislation, known as Minimum Wages Act, 1948. As in other countries,
here also the need for fixing minimum wages arose from the conditions created by the payment
of low and sweated wages in the unorganised and organised sectors of industries, and consequent
need for protecting workers against exploitation. Before achieving the present status, the concept
of minimum wages had to pass through several stages. As far back as 1921, a resolution
recommending the establishment of Industrial Boards for the determination of minimum wages
in the Bengal Presidency was debated in the Bengal Legislative Council. Since then, the movement
for fixing minimum wages by legislation has been gaining momentum. It received further
impetus from the development of the trade union movement, and the agitation of workers and
their unions for adequate wages. In 1929, the Royal Commission of Labour recommended a
policy of gradual introduction of statutory minimum wages. This cautious approach was based
on their finding that there might be many trades, in which a minimum may be desirable but not

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