Question : MINIMUM WAGES TO WORKERS

(a) whether Khadi artisans/workers are paid wages as fixed under the Minimum Wages Act;

(b) if so, the details thereof and if not,the reasons therefor;

(c) the steps taken by the Government to provide them wages fixed under Minimum Wages Act;

(d) whether the Government/KVIC provides special benefits to artisans/workers belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, minorities and backward classes;

(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reason therefor; and

(f) the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SHRI VAYALAR RAVI)

(a)to(c): Khadi artisans are self-employed individuals involved in the production of khadi. They mostly work from their dwelling places and use their spare time in khadi activity to supplement their family income. They have no age limit, have no service regulation, have no fixed timings and are free to associate or dissociate from the khadi institutions at will. As such there is no employer-employee relationship. Workers, however, are employees of the khadi institutions and are paid minimum wages.

KVIC has taken a number of steps to increase the earnings of khadi artisans and to ensure that equitable remunerations are paid to them by the institutions concerned. State-level cost charts for making payments to artisans on piece-rate basis for the conversion of raw material into semi-finished/finished goods have been prescribed by KVIC, which are required to be adhered to by the khadi institutions. Under the Market Development Assistance scheme, khadi institutions are provided assistance @ 20% of value of production; of this, 25% is earmarked for artisans, which is in addition to their wages. Khadi institutions registered with KVIC and State Khadi and Village Industries Boards (KVIBs) are required to contribute 12 % of wages of artisans to Artisans Welfare Funds.

(d)to(f): KVIC is implementing various schemes / programmes for the benefits of khadi artisans including those belonging to Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes. Every scheme has an earmarked component for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the Scheduled Caste Sub-plan and Tribal Sub-plan.