Activists said as workers are unable to cover minimum expenses for their families, their debt burden continues to mount.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Trade union activists, unorganised labourers and civil rights practitioners in Jaipur on Thursday (May 14, 2026) demanded a revision in minimum wages in Rajasthan to enable workers to earn a “dignified livelihood”. Rajasthan ranks among the States where the minimum wage rates are the lowest.
Addressing a State-level convention at the Samagra Seva Sangh headquarters, activists said the current wage rates were inadequate for meeting the basic necessities of food, healthcare, education, rent and transportation. Since the workers are unable to cover minimum expenses for their families, their debt burden continues to mount.
The speakers at the convention called for increasing minimum wages to ₹26,000 per month and incorporating actual inflation rates and the cost of living into the wage determination process. A resolution stated that the variable dearness allowance should be reviewed regularly as part of wage increments and the minimum wages revised every six months.
Calls for setting up panel
Several speakers raised the issues of silicosis infection at work, precarious employment, delayed wage payments and weak enforcement of labour rights. The resolution proposed the constitution of a People’s Workers’ Commission for sending recommendations to the government and a Minimum Wage Struggle Front to formulate future strategies and spearhead a Statewide dialogue and struggle.
While Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) State president Ravindra Shukla said the current minimum wage rates in Rajasthan were anti-workers, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) general secretary Kunal Rawat said the failure to provide adequate wage increases, despite rising inflation, constituted a direct assault on the lives of workers.
Nikhil Dey of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) said minimum wage issue was not merely economic, but a matter concerning the rights to dignity and equality enshrined in the Constitution. “If the workers do not get a living wage, the discourse on social justice and democracy will remain incomplete,” Mr. Dey said.
Samagra Seva Sansthan president and Gandhian thinker Sawai Singh said the true identity of a democratic society was determined by the respect and justice accorded to its workers. People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) president Kavita Srivastava said though the unorganised labourers were working under the most precarious conditions, their rights and social security were being consistently ignored.
The convention highlighted the fact that the States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi had set minimum wages significantly higher than that in Rajasthan. “The disparity faced by the hardworking labourers in Rajasthan is a matter of grave concern,” the resolution stated.
Published – May 15, 2026 09:22 am IST
