Minimum Wages Act for Domestic Workers and Related Issues of Unorganised Sector Employees

Constitutional provisions

  • Article 23 of the Constitution prohibits traffic in human being and beggar and other similar forms of forced labour.
  • Article 24 of the Constitution prohibits employment of children below 14 years of age in factories and hazardous employment. This provision is certainly in the interest of public health and safety of life of children.
  • Article 43 requires the State to take steps, by suitable legislation or in any other way to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, establishments or other organizations engaged in any industry. Article 43 refers to a “living wage” and not “minimum wage”. The concept of living wage includes in addition to the bare necessities of life, such as food, shelter and clothing, provisions for education of children and insurance etc.

Related acts and policies

  • The Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act 2008: The State Governments are mandated to register the Unorganised Workers and to provide benefits of welfare schemes other than the three basic social security schemes of the Central Government i.e. (i) life and disability cover, (ii) health and maternity benefits, and (iii) old age protection.
    • Envisages creating National Social Security Board which will be chaired by Union Minister for Labour and Employment Director General (Labour Welfare) as Member-Secretary [both ex-officio].
    • Envisages creating State Social Security Board at state level which will be chaired by Minister for Labour and Employment of the concerned state the Principal Secretary or Secretary (Labour) as Member-secretary [both ex-officio].
  • National Policy on Skill Development: The target group for skill development comprises all those in the labour force, including those entering the labour market for the first time (12.8 million annually), those employed in the organized sector and those working in the unorganized sector. India has set a target of skilling 500 million people by 2022.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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