New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government-appointed the ministry of labour and employment to formed the committee expert panel that has now suggested the minimum wage at Rs 375 per day, higher than the current of Rs 321 for farm or unskilled workers and Rs 371 for semi-skilled workers. Here it is to be noted that the panel has adopted a new methodology that eliminates variation in wages based on sector, skills and location. It has recommended a “balanced diet approach” to compute minimum wages.

The report said the committee’s recommendations, if accepted, will result in a wage bracket between Rs 340 for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and Rs 447 for Delhi. An extra Rs 55 has been suggested as rent allowance for workers in urban India. It may be noted that the recommendations, which come months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, will aid millions of workers if it gets the green signal from the central advisory body of the labour ministry.

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Earlier, in January 2017, the ministry of labour and employment had formed the committee headed by chairmanship of Anoop Satpathy, fellow of the VV Giri National Labour Institute, to review and suggest ways to calculate the national minimum wage. The panel submitted its report to the labour secretary on Thursday.

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For  implication of this suggestion will take time as the panel's report will be put up before the central advisory board and tripartite bodies for discussion and approval, after the labour ministry will notify the national minimum wage. The committee has also suggested assessing the consumption basket every five years and consumer price index-based minimum wage revision in every six months to reflect changes in the cost of living.