Government of India should stay firm!! [Archives:2008/1137/Community]

By: Raju Aneja
[email protected]
There is a report that the Indian Government may back down over the proposal for a compulsory $265 minimum wage for unskilled workers in some parts of the Middle East, e.g. Bahrain, following protests from contractors, etc.

The Government of India should remain firm. It would be a serious error to withdraw any proposal which bebefits those who are not covered for inflation and are unprotected. They neither have provident funds, insurance or pensions for their old ages.

Sure, the contractors will protest, because their costs will increase. But they should realise that labour costs are a fraction of their total bills, and the increase will not even register to 2 decimal places on a calculator. And they would have a motivated, smiling labour force that will complete projects ahead of schedule. India itself is on a roll, and needs labour and workers desperately. A business group in india (Ambanais) have imported Chinese labour for one of their projects. Another construction comoany (DLF) is looking to bring 20,000 Indian workers back home to complete their projects.

The Government of India, should not back down. I am aghast and astonished at the callous indifference of some rich businessmen, towards their fellowmen, who are not as fortunate as many of us in terms of education and income.
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