Skip to main content

Gujarat’s urban and rural working people earn poorer wages than other states: NSSO

By Rajiv Shah 
The latest National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) figures, released recently by India’s most powerful statistical body, has once again reiterated the long-standing view that Gujarat’s salaried classes as well as casual workers earn much less the all-India average, in fact most other Indian states. Whether it urban areas or rural areas, the NSSO has found that things are not very different for Gujarat. While rural regular wage earners and salaried employees make up not a very big percentage of the working population in Gujarat, the survey, which was carried out over two years, 2011 and 2012, suggests that rural Gujarat’s regular wage earners and salaried employees, on an average, earned Rs 254 per day, as against the all-India average of Rs 298.96. Several “backward” states were found to be performing better in their respective rural areas — Bihar (Rs 411.82), Assam (Rs 302.22), Rajasthan (Rs 305.59), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 276.13), Jharkhand (Rs 478.61). In fact, the survey shows that regular wages and salaries in rural areas were higher in as many as 14 out of 20 major states compared to Gujarat.
The NSSO data further suggest that the situation for regular wage earners and salaried classes in the state’s urban areas earn is, shockingly, worst than all Indian states. This group forms the bulk of the urban working people, and the data are particularly significant for a state which has lately experienced the highest pace of urbanization. In fact, as against the all-India average per day earning of this group in urban areas of Rs 449.65 per day, the average payment in Gujarat was found to be just Rs 319.71. One can only compare where Gujarat stands vis-à-vis so-called Bimaru states – in Bihar, the average regular wage per day was Rs 412.24, in Chhattisgarh Rs 322.84, in Assam Rs 606.96, in Madhya Pradesh Rs 436.12, in Odisha 431.66, in Rajasthan Rs 416.54, and in Uttar Pradesh Rs 482.87. Regular wages and salaries in “comparable states” are — Maharashtra Rs 485.72, Andhra Pradesh Rs 395.35, Karnataka Rs 486.92, Haryana Rs 776.85, Punjab Rs 361.75, and Tamil Nadu Rs 389.81.
Coming to the casual workers, earnings in Gujarat are found to be equally bad. First the rural areas, where casualisation has taken place on a massive scale and small and marginal farmers are increasingly turning into wage earners. In the rural areas, the NSSO survey has found, the casual workers’ wage – on an average – is Rs 112.84, as against the all-India average of Rs 138.62. In fact, here Gujarat is worse than all states except two — Chhattisgarh (Rs 83.85) and Madhya Pradesh (Rs 105.22). The earning of casual workers was found to be the highest in Kerala – Rs 314.88, which is almost three times that of Gujarat. The situation was found to be equally bad in the urban areas, where average casual wage per day in Gujarat was found to be Rs 144.52, which is, again, worse than all other states but four, Chhattisgarh, where it is Rs 106.16, Madhya Pradesh Rs 125.89, Uttar Pradesh Rs 143.20 and West Bengal Rs 128.24. In casual labour in urban areas, again, Kerala topped the list with Rs 309.90 per day on an average.
Poor wages in urban areas – both of regular workers and of casual workers – should serve as a grim reminder to those who go ga-ga over Gujarat’s urbanization pace, which is the highest in the country compared to any state. According to the 2011 Census, 42.6 per cent of Gujarat’s population lives in urban areas, as against 37 per cent in 2001, making the state one of the fastest growing urbanized states in the country, fast catching up with Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Yet, the fact is, urban poverty has failed to come down in any drastic way. In fact, the percentage of fall in urban poverty in Gujarat during the second half of the decade ending 2010 was a mere 2.2 per cent, from 20.1 per cent to 17.9 per cent, which comes to just about 0.44 per cent per annum.
Notably, this was lower than a dozen out of 20 major states, including Madhya Pradesh, which saw a whopping 12.2 per cent reduction in urban poverty, followed by Odisha (11.7), Rajasthan (9.8), Maharashtra (7.3), Tamil Nadu (6.9), Karnataka (6.3), Kerala (6.3), Andhra Pradesh (5.7), Chhattisgarh (4.6), Bihar (4.3), Uttar Pradesh (2.4) and West Bengal (2.4). The all-India average percentage of urban poverty reduction during the second half of 2000s was 4.6. Clearly, huge investments and a high growth rate have not appear to have helped Gujarat’s downtrodden sections in any way. If experts such as Prof Ghanshyam Shah are to be believed, poor wages — the main reason for poverty in urban Gujarat — suggest failure on the part of the working people to collectively bargain for their wages. It is also a reflection of the poor state of trade unions and employees’ associations in the state. Other experts such as Prof Sebestian Morris of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, also the point out that one reason why Gujarat economy has been able to grow at a faster than the all-India average is, by keeping wages dormant.
Even a top lobbyist of the Gujarat chief minister, economist Bibek Debroy, in his book “Gujarat: Governance for Growth and Development” has admitted in his book that, in absolute terms, the number or urban poor in Gujarat has gone up 4.3 million in 2004-05 and 4.5 million in 2009-10. Fast rate of urbanization has failed to improve the state’s social sector index in any way. A government document of the Chintan Shibir, a bureaucratic conclave, of 2011, records the following as a fact: “While nutrition indicators appear worse in rural areas (48 per cent) compared to urban areas (39 per cent), the urban poor are at an equivalent disadvantage compared to rural populace and much worse than their affluent urban neighbours… Among urban poor, under-five under-nutrition is 56 per cent against 36 per cent among urban non-poor.”
Poor wages in Gujarat go hand-in-hand with a huge gender gap in wage earnings. While there is not much of a difference between the male and female wages of rural casual labour (it is Rs 115.77 for males against Rs 104.96 for females), in the urban areas the gap is rather high. The average male casual workers’ wage in the survey was found to be Rs 160.64, as against the average female wage of just about Rs 88.84! The same is the situation for the regular wage earners – if in the rural areas it was found to be Rs 268.69 for males and Rs 173.13 for females, in the urban areas it was Rs 326.34 for males and Rs 271.86 for the females. Of course, this is not at all Gujarat specific, yet the fact is, Gujarat’s females are one of the worst earners of wages compared to most Indian states.

Comments

TRENDING

देशव्यापी ग्रामीण भारत बंध में उतरे मध्य प्रदेश के आदिवासी, किया केंद्र सरकार का विरोध

- हरसिंग जमरे, भिखला सोलंकी, रतन अलावे*  15 और 16 फरवरी को निमाड के बड़वानी, खरगोन और बुरहानपुर में जागृत आदिवासी दलित संगठन के नेतृत्व में आदिवासी महिला-पुरुषों ग्रामीण भारत बंद में रैली एवं विरोध प्रदर्शन किया । प्रधान मंत्री द्वारा 2014 में फसलों की लागत का डेढ़ गुना भाव देने का वादा किया गया था, 2016 में किसानों की आय दुगना करने का वादा किया गया था । आज, फसलों का दाम नहीं बढ़ रहा है, लेकिन खेती में खर्च बढ़ता जा रहा है! खाद, बीज और दवाइयों का दाम, तीन-चार गुना बढ़ चुका है! किसानों को लागत का डेढ़ गुना भाव देने के बजाए, खेती को कंपनियों के हवाले करने के लिए 3 काले कृषि कानून लाए गए । 3 काले कानून वापस लेते समय प्रधान मंत्री ने फिर वादा किया था कि फसलों की लागत का डेढ़ गुना भाव की कानूनी गारंटी के लिए कानून बनाएँगे, लेकिन वो भी झूठ निकला! आज जब देश के किसान दिल्ली में आपको अपना वादा याद दिलाने आए है, तब आप उनका रास्ता रोक रहें है, उनके साथ मारपीट कर उन पर आँसू गैस फेंक रहें हैं, उन पर छर्रों से फायरिंग कर रहें है! देश को खिलाने वाला किसान खुद भूखा रहे, क्या यही विकास है?

नफरती बातें: मुसलमानों में असुरक्षा का भाव बढ़ रहा है, वे अपने मोहल्लों में सिमट रहे हैं

- राम पुनियानी*  भारत पर पिछले 10 सालों से हिन्दू राष्ट्रवादी भारतीय जनता पार्टी (भाजपा) राज कर रही है. भाजपा आरएसएस परिवार की सदस्य है और आरएसएस का लक्ष्य है हिन्दू राष्ट्र का निर्माण. आरएसएस से जुड़ी सैंकड़ों संस्थाएँ हैं. उसके लाखों, बल्कि शायद, करोड़ों स्वयंसेवक हैं. इसके अलावा कई हजार वरिष्ठ कार्यकर्ता हैं जिन्हें प्रचारक कहा जाता है. भाजपा के सत्ता में आने के बाद से आरएसएस दुगनी गति से हिन्दू राष्ट्र के निर्माण के अपने एजेण्डे को पूरा करने में जुट गया है. यदि भाजपा को चुनावों में लगातार सफलता हासिल हो रही है तो उसका कारण है देश में साम्प्रदायिकता और साम्प्रदायिक मुद्दों का बढ़ता बोलबाला. इनमें से कुछ हैं राम मंदिर, गौमांस और गोवध एवं लव जिहाद. 

Only 15% businesses provide employees real-time sustainability dashboards: Study

Kyndryl in collaboration with Microsoft has released the findings of The Global Sustainability Barometer study. The study, conducted by Ecosystm, finds that while 85% of organizations place a high strategic level of importance on achieving their sustainability goals, only 16% have integrated sustainability into their strategies and data. A Kyndryl note: *** Kyndryl (NYSE: KD), the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, in collaboration with Microsoft , today released the findings of The Global Sustainability Barometer study. The study, conducted by Ecosystm , finds that while 85% of organizations place a high strategic level of importance on achieving their sustainability goals, only 16% have integrated sustainability into their strategies and data.

How the slogan Jai Bhim gained momentum as movement of popularity and revolution

By Dr Kapilendra Das*  India is an incomprehensible plural country loaded with diversities of religions, castes, cultures, languages, dialects, tribes, societies, costumes, etc. The Indians have good manners/etiquette (decent social conduct, gesture, courtesy, politeness) that build healthy relationships and take them ahead to life. In many parts of India, in many situations, and on formal occasions, it is common for people of India to express and exchange respect, greetings, and salutation for which we people usually use words and phrases like- Namaskar, Namaste, Pranam, Ram Ram, Jai Ram ji, Jai Sriram, Good morning, shubha sakal, Radhe Radhe, Jai Bajarangabali, Jai Gopal, Jai Jai, Supravat, Good night, Shuvaratri, Jai Bhole, Salaam walekam, Walekam salaam, Radhaswami, Namo Buddhaya, Jai Bhim, Hello, and so on.

Laxmanpur Bathe massacre: Perfect example of proto-fascist Brahmanical social order

By Harsh Thakor  The massacre at Laxmanpur-Bathe of Jehanabad in Bihar on the night of 1 December in 1997 was a landmark event with distinguishing features .The genocide rightly shook the conscience of the nation in the 50th year of Indian independence. The scale of the carnage was unparalleled in any caste massacre. It was a perfect manifestation of how in essence the so called neo-liberal state was in essence most autocratic. 

Tamil Nadu brahmins are at cross roads, their future scenario remains uncertain

By NS Venkataraman*  For over 70 years now, brahmin community in Tamil Nadu have been abused, insulted and even physically attacked on some occasions by those who claimed that they were part of the so called dravidian movement. However, brahmin community silently and helplessly ducked under pressure and showed no signs of resistance or fight back.

गुजरात विश्वविद्यालय कुलपति महोदया का बयान उल्टा चोर कोतवाल को डांटे समान है

गुजरात विश्व विद्यालय परिसर में विदेशी छात्रों को सांस्कृतिक संवेदनशीलता का पाठ देने की ख़बर के संबंध में विश्व विद्यालय को खुला पत्र: --- प्रति श्री, कुलपति महोदय गुजरात विश्वविद्यालय अहमदाबाद विषय- गुजरात विश्व विद्यालय परिसर में विदेशी छात्रों को सांस्कृतिक संवेदनशीलता का पाठ देने की ख़बर के संबंध में। महोदया,

સમાજમાં ભાગલા પાડવાના ષડયંત્રકારી ઈડરના પીએસઆઇ ને સસ્પેન્ડ કરવા જોઇયે

મુજાહિદ નફીસ ,  કન્વીનર, માઈનોરિટી કોઓરડીનેશન કમિટી, નો પોલિસ મહાનિદેશક, ગુજરાત, ને પત્ર: --- વિષય- ઈડર (સાબરકાંઠા) માં તરાવીહની નમાજ પઢી બાહર આવતા મુસ્લિમ સમુદાયના લોકોને લાકડી થી મારનાર અને બિભત્સ ગાળો બોલનાર પીએસઆઇ જાદવ ને સસ્પેંડ કરવા બાબતે મહોદય,

અંકલેશ્વર/પાનોલી માં વાંરવાર અકસ્માત ના બનાવો બને છે એ એક ચિંતન નો વિષય છે

- સલીમ પટેલ*  પાનોલી જીઆઇડીસીમાં ઓદ્યોગિક ઘન/પ્રવાહી કચરાનું રીસાયલીંગ કરતી RSPL નામની કમ્પની આવેલ છે. જે અન્ય ઓદ્યોગિક એકમોના રાસાયણિક કચરાને રીસાયલીંગ કરવાનું કામ કરે છે જેમાં અનેક અને દુર –દુર ના એકમોનો રાસાયણિક કચરાને અહિયાં પ્રોસેસ માટે લાવવામાં આવે છે. આ દરમ્યાન 23.03.24 નાં રોજ મોડી સાંજે કોઈ કારણોસર રાસાયણિક કચરામાં આગ લાગતા હોળી પેહલા જ વેસ્ટ કેમિકલ હોળી દહન ના દ્ર્શ્યો સર્જાયા હતા અને તેમાં સોલ્વન્ટ સહીત ના ઝેરી તત્વો શામેલ હોવાના લીધે વાતાવરણ પ્રદુષિત બનતા આસપાસના લોકોમાં ભય ફેલાયો હતો. આ અગાઉ પણ ગત વર્ષે પણ પાનોલી જી આઈ ડી સી માં આગ અકસ્માત નો બનાવ બનતા કેટલાક ગામો ને ખાલી કરવાની ફરજ પડી હતી જે ઘટના ને યાદ કરી પ્રજા માં ભય નું વાતાવરણ સર્જાયું હતું.

Erroneously linked with Maoist party, activist arrested under UAPA for his bold voice

By Harsh Thakor* On Monday 11 th of March , the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of the repressive Indian State presented fabricated charges against Sanjoy Deepak Rao in the jurisdiction of a special court for the NIA in Hyderabad. Sanjoy Deepak Rao, a progressive intellectual from Jammu and Kashmir, was already arrested several times for his bold voice. Last September he was arrested again, in Telangana, this time charged of being a leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a party which leads the People’s War against the old Indian State.