The newly constituted expert committee may opt for multi-criteria decision-making method for fixing the amount, away from nutritional requirement as the criterion for fixing minimum wages. MCDM will also address the views of the employers while suggesting minimum wages.
The new chairman of the panel, statistician and economist SP Mukherjee told business Line Most examples of minimum wage practices in various countries found in the International Labor Organization (ILO) collections have not taken a scientific approach.
The latest report on the matter presented by Anoop Satpathy used a tool based on “demographic composition, consumption patterns and nutritional intake, composition of food baskets and the relative importance of non-food consumption items to address realities in the Indian context”. by using official data provided by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).”
“I have also looked at the ILO collection on the practices of minimum wages in about 129 countries. There are variations, no doubt. In terms of scientific point of view, I did not find many examples in this collection. They set their minimum wage to people, trade unions. etc. We met in Chandigarh recently. In our first meeting, we discussed using a scientific approach called MCDM,” he said.
‘Not just a number’
The question before the expert group is not just to fix an amount. “They expect us to make a policy on whether we need a national minimum single wage rate or it should be left to the states or it should be left to the states with a certain role being played by the Centre. We have also been asked to see whether the minimum wage should be fixed for a given time period or should be combined, for example, with the wage rate index, as and when the CPI-based wage rate index also goes up. goes. Mukherjee said.
The panel will also look at whether minimum wages should vary from one level of occupation to another and from one region to another. “If one tries to understand the standard of living as a component in the context of a balanced diet, there is scope to understand it from the non-diet component as well. All these issues have to be addressed,” Mukherjee said.
“The policy that the government should expect from this expert group should be in terms of some qualitative questions or decisions, which should be decided in a certain amount. It should be based on the analysis of data that does not exist. It should be compiled So it should be multi-criteria, at least three,” he said.
affect livelihood
Mukherjee explained that the three criteria included how the policy and amount would affect the standard of living of workers. “How it will improve their standard of living is the question. Secondly, if we raise the minimum wage substantially, what is the impact on employment? If the owner of a small establishment has to pay more than what he is paying now, he may have to reduce his profits or close the business which will also affect the employee. Hence the effect of any policy on employment should be studied.
The third criterion would be the effect of minimum wages on industrial disputes. “Will disputes be resolved easily or will it reach more in numbers? Will it get more complicated? This again deals on enterprises and establishments operating in different states. Policy should be scientific,” Mukherjee said.
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