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Security for unorganised workers

The Arjun Sengupta Commission on enterprises in the informal economy that is considering a new set of laws on work and livelihood and social security for the unorganised sector to replace the 2003 Bill put forward by the previous National Democratic Alliance Government must make a determined bid to avoid the pitfalls in the existing law. Foremost, it must face upfront the fundamental question of minimum wages — the means to secure the barest minimum necessary for human subsistence. The people in the unorganised sector, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of the country's total workforce, have for too long been denied this basic entitlement owing to misplaced attempts by labour departments in States which fix not just one minimum wage but a whole set of different minimum wages for different industries and occupations, thus diverting their energies from a crucial role. A not necessarily single national minimum wage, but one that is based on cost of living at a regional or sub-regional level is a better option than what has been hitherto followed. Moreover, a minimum wage, by definition, has to be reasonably above the levels that prevail in the situation of massive surplus labour and widespread poverty as in India. Once a decent minimum wage prevails in reality as a result of official enforcement as also workers' own struggle, those who do more skilled and demanding jobs will automatically be able to get commensurately higher wages. Otherwise, the minimum wage notifications will remain on paper for all sections of workers. The working class should also be assisted by the labour bureaucracy of State governments to work collectively and through democratic means to achieve the statutorily fixed minimum wage.

India is embarking on reform of its unorganised sector at a juncture when the post-war model of a welfare state — still a reality in most of the industrialised world — has largely remained notional, with the simultaneous need to respond to the imperatives of ongoing structural adjustment programmes. Social security and competitiveness are imperative in an economy that has thrown open its doors to competition, both domestic and international. Satisfaction of minimum needs of workers by way of reasonable housing, sanitary and cultural conditions can only enhance their capacity to respond better to the requirements of improved work culture and acquisition of skills. There can be no conflict between provision of social security for the labour force and improving the productivity, efficiency and competitiveness of industry because competitiveness is a function of the productivity of labour. Social security is key to the success of reforms; and any legislation proposed for the unorganised sector should reflect this facet.

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