Highlighting the “decline in real wages”, the Congress, ahead of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s Union Budget, raised the demand for nationwide minimum wage of ₹400 per day.
In a statement, Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh said that multiple data sources, including the government’s own statistics, had pointed out that “workers can buy less today than they could 10 years ago”. The Labour Bureau’s Wage Rate Index, Mr. Ramesh said, showed that real wages for labourers stagnated between 2014-2023, and in fact declined between 2019-2024.
The Ministry of Agriculture’s data, Mr. Ramesh said, also pointed in a similar direction. “Under [former Prime Minister] Dr. Manmohan Singh, real wages for agricultural labourers grew at 6.8% each year. Under Mr. Modi, real wages for agricultural labourers declined by -1.3% each year,” he said.
A combination of slow wage growth and back-breaking inflation had caused an unprecedented decline in real wages adjusted for price rise, Mr. Ramesh added. The Congress had, he said, promised in its manifesto a nationwide minimum wage of ₹400 per day to break this cycle of stagnant wages.
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“The self-anointed non-biological PM has been delivered a stinging rebuke by voters in his efforts to reach 400 paar (400 plus) in the Lok Sabha. The Union Budget offers him the chance to achieve what the INC [Indian National Congress] has called Asli 400 paar (real 400 Plus),” Mr. Ramesh said in a post on social media platform X.
