Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/agri-workers-tiny-wage-rise-wiped-out-by-inflation-subodh-varma.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Agri Workers’ Tiny Wage Rise Wiped Out by Inflation -Subodh Varma | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Agri Workers’ Tiny Wage Rise Wiped Out by Inflation -Subodh Varma

-Newsclick.in

In the past five years, agri workers’ wage has increased by only about Rs.15 per year.

For those leaders of the country who are tearing their hair trying to figure out how to get the economy moving, boost growth, increase investment and create jobs, it would be instructive to look at the plight of the largest economic class in the country – agricultural labourers. Numbering upward of 14 crore, they are the poorest, least paid workers, forced to seasonally work multiple jobs just to survive.

The latest data, collected by the Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour (available with the Reserve Bank of India for male workers) shows that over the past five years, wages of male agricultural workers has increased at a shockingly low rate of just Rs.15 per year. (See chart below) That is about 6% per year or 29% in five years.

In August 2022, the last month for which data was available at the time of writing, the wage was Rs.343 per day. Remember that the agricultural workers work only seasonally – as and when there is work in the fields depending on crop cycles. They may get ploughing or transplanting, weeding or watering or harvesting work for 10-15 days at a stretch, then a gap of weeks or months. So, the average wage over the year from agricultural work diminishes to almost nothing if spread out over the whole year.

But the story doesn’t end there. Prices have risen continuously in the same period by about 28%, as shown in the chart above based on the officially estimated Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Rural Labour. That effectively wipes out the meagre increase in wages. In other words, ‘real’ or actual wages have remained stagnant or even dipped slightly.

Caste and Gender Discrimination

The data on wages given above is for male workers. Female workers – which number more in the agricultural labour workforce than in other sectors of the economy – suffer from institutionalised discrimination. For example, in August 2022, while the male agricultural worker gets an average of Rs.343 per day, female workers’ average daily wage is recorded at Rs.271. That’s over 20% less than the male worker. Such differences are present in all the types of work that male and female rural labourers do. There are many types of work that only males undertake, like plumbers, carpenters, electricians, blacksmiths, drivers, etc.

It is noteworthy that some of the lowest paid jobs in rural areas are those which are usually taken up only by the most socially oppressed sections of society, that is, the Scheduled Castes (SC). For example, ‘sweeping and cleaning workers’ were reported to be getting Rs.290 per day (male) and Rs.269 per day (female) on an average, in August 2022. Since a large proportion of agricultural labourers are from SC communities, during the lean season or even on daily basis, they supplement their incomes with doing this work.

Please click here to read more.