With an aim to improve the ease of doing business and attract investment for spurring growth, the Union Cabinet has approved the Code on Wages Bill which seeks to subsume existing laws related to workers remuneration and enable the Centre to fix minimum wages for the entire country. The Code on Wages is one of the four codes that would subsume 44 labour laws with certain amendments. The four codes will deal with wages, social security, industrial safety and welfare, and industrial relations.
The Code on Wages will replace the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. The bill provides that the central government will fix minimum wages for certain sectors, including railways and mines, while the states would be free to set minimum wages for other category of employments.
The code also provides for setting up of a national minimum wage. The central government can set a separate minimum wage for different regions or states. The draft law also says that the minimum wage would be revised every five years. Besides, the government looks to push the bill for passage in the ongoing session of Parliament. The previous Modi government had introduced the wages code bill in the Lok Sabha on August 10, 2017. The bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee which submitted its report on December 18, 2018.