PATNA: Bihar Minimum Wages Advisory Board has recommended a 15 per cent hike in minimum wages for workers of the unorganised sector in the state on Monday.
The state government has sought suggestions from people, representatives of various labour unions and
organisations concerned with the proposal. If the new wages come into effect, a worker in Bihar will be paid Rs 48 more than the existing daily wages of Rs 318. The increased rate of wages will be enforced in the state after completing the required formalities in the next two months.
Bihar labour resources minister Jibesh Kumar said that the minimum wages are revised after every five years. A proposal to hike minimum wages was passed at a meeting of the state minimum wages advisory board held on Monday.
He revealed a labourer will get minimum wages of Rs 366 per day after a formal notification is issued by the state government. Around 3 crore workers in the unorganised sector will be benefited from the proposal.
“The hike in minimum wages has been proposed in the wake of price rise. Skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers engaged in 88 units that provided job opportunities to them will be paid a new rate of minimum wages,” a senior official of the labour resources department said.
A total of 2,82,53,941 workers from Bihar have so far registered themselves on the e-Shram portal launched by the central government. The registered workers will be issued digital identity cards soon. Bihar ranked second after Uttar Pradesh, which has altogether 8.28 crore workers registered on the portal.
West Bengal is ranked as the third position with 2.55 crore labourers registering themselves on the portal. Bihar has achieved 80.75 per cent of the fixed target in terms of registration whereas all workers have registered themselves on the portal.
According to authoritative sources, 16.94 per cent of workers are from the general class, 57.95 per cent from the backward class, 20.28 per cent from the SCs and 4.82 per cent from the STs have registered themselves on the portal.