(a) whether the Government has contemplated/sanctioned an increase in the wages of the agricultural labourers as reported in `Rashtriya Sahara`, November 23, 2006;
(b) if so, whether this increase has been sanctioned for certain States only;
(c) if so, the reasons therefor;
(d) whether the rates of wages announced in recent years by the Government are being adopted in all the States; and
(e) if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI OSCAR FERNANDES)
(a): The Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) has revised Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) for different category of workers employed in agriculture with effect from 1st October, 2006 on the basis of rise in prices as measured in terms of All India Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers. The basic rates and VDA fixed for agriculture as applicable to different areas in the Central Sphere are as under:-
Area Wise Basic + V.D.A Rates (in Rs.)
Category Area `A` Area `B` Area `C`
Unskilled 114.00+6.37 104.00+5.79 102.00+5.78 - 120.37 109.79 107.78
Semi-Skilled 125.00+6.95 116.00+6.38 107.00+5.81 131.95 122.38 112.81
Skilled 137.00+7.54 125.00+6.95 115.00+6.37 144.54 131.95 121.37
Highly Skilled 153.00+8.41 141.00+7.82 125.00+6.78 - - - 161.41 148.82 131.78
Area `A`, `B` and `C` are defined as per Annexure.
AREA `A`NB: U.A. stands for Urban Area.
Ahmedabad (U.A.) Greater Bombay (U.A) Chennai (U.A.) Bangalore (U.A.) Hyderabad (U.A) Nagpur (U.A.) Kolkata (U.A.) Kanpur (U.A) Delhi (U.A.) Lucknow (U.A) AREA `B`
Agra (U.A.) Ghaziabad (U.A.) Meerut (U.A.) Ajmer (U.A.) Gorakhpur (U.A.) Moradabad (U.A.) Aligarh (U.A.) Guwahati Mysore (U.A.) Allahabad (U.A.) Guntur Nasik (U.A.) Amaravati (U.A.) Gwalior (U.A.) Pune (U.A.) Aurangabad (U.A.) Indore (U.A.) Patna (U.A.) Bareilly (U.A.) Hubli-Dharwad Raipur Bhavnagar/Bhopal Jabalpur (U.A.) Rajkot Bikaner Jaipur (U.A.) Ranchi (U.A.) Bhubaneshwar Jalandhar Sholapur (U.A.) Amritsar Jamshedpur (U.A.) Srinagar (U.A.) Calicut (U.A.) Jodhpur Surat (U.A.) Chandigarh (U.A.) Kolhapur (U.A.) Thiruvananthapuram (U.A.) Cochin (U.A.) Kalyan Ulhasnagar Coimbatore (U.A.) Kota Vadodara (U.A.) Cuttack (U.A.) Ludhiana Varanasi (U.A.) Durgapur Madurai (U.A.) Vijayawada (U.A.) Vishakhapatnam (U.A.) Warangal
Faridabad Complex
Area `C` will comprise all areas not mentioned in this list.