AGARTALA, Aug 17 (TIWN): A protest was staged by leftist backed organization known as CRU for Northeast and under various names across India in demand of “protection” of Sales Promotion Employees-Condition of Service, Act 1976.

The group of agitators protested for medical section’s representatives whereas across the country same protests have been kicked off centering the attempt of Modi Govt to change the Labour law.

In January, a committee of experts appointed by the Labour Ministry recommended that the government set the national minimum wage at Rs 375 per day. This, they said, was the minimum amount required for a worker to meet their family expenditure, preserve their health, and keep them efficient at their jobs.

Seven months later, the government tabled the Code of Wages Bill in Parliament. The Bill stated that the Centre would set a national floor-level minimum wage – 
the lowest level of remuneration that an employer can pay a worker by law, irrespective of the nature of the work or the skills of the worker. This would be fixed on the basis of the living conditions of workers and the geographical regions in which they reside and work. But the Bill did not mention a specific figure.

Labour activists have questioned why the government did not accept the Rs 375 benchmark recommendation of its own committee.

The controversy has put the spotlight on the question: how best to ensure workers have a decent standard of living while ensuring high levels of employment in the economy? As a paper by the International Labour Organisation notes, setting a minimum wage is a balancing act: if the wage is set too high and assuming it is enforced, it leads to fewer workers being hired. If it is too low, workers don’t earn enough to afford their basic necessities.