For close to 48 hours recently, the situation had become quite volatile in specific pockets of Noida, as the labour unrest began playing out on the streets with workers clashing violently with the police personnel. Those who are aware of Noida’s positioning as a vibrant national capital region zone will vouch that, apart from being a massive residential hub, the region is also known for its well-established manufacturing clusters (both in Noida and its later evolved adjoining pocket of Greater Noida, now much in the news because of Jewar Airport). They are mostly dominated by MSMEs, though they also have biggies of the game as well as prominent MNCs. The strength of the region is well-underlined by the fact that Noida/Greater Noida contributes about 10 per cent of the state's GDP.
The trigger was the demand for a reasonable wage raise by employees – a major issue pursued by labour unions active in north Indian industrial belts. And with mounting pressure, governments in BJP-ruled states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have recently responded with a new wage structure, which has become effective from the beginning of this month. The Haryana government had earlier announced a substantial 35 per cent increase in minimum wages for industrial workers – up to Rs15,220 for unskilled workers and up to Rs19,425 for skilled workers. This initiative in the neighbouring state is believed to have compelled the Adityanath government to respond with a similar move. It, however, took a slightly different route. It announced varying rates for different clusters – for industrial workers deployed in Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) and Ghaziabad, the wage rise announced for skilled workers went to Rs16,868 from Rs13,490; and the peak wage point for semi-skilled workers and unskilled workers was raised to Rs15,059 and Rs13,690 respectively. For the other industrial clusters, the revised wage structure is lower. The raise, however, has been announced after a gap of a decade and has been dubbed as ‘too late and too little’ by the protestors and trade unions. The industrial workers’ wage rate, at over Rs22,000, is the highest in Delhi in the region.
The violent clashes, however, seem to have been contained on time and, according to the state government, there have been other constituents to the unrest as well – including structured incitement by political forces from the Opposition and other vested interests. It has committed to going down hard on them. The owners of the manufacturing units, however, are crying hoarse, saying that the wage hike has come at an inappropriate moment. Since a sizable chunk of these units (especially MSMEs) are export-oriented, they believe that, with growing uncertainty in the international market, doling out higher wages will have an adverse bearing on their operations.
But, merely looking at the development as yet another disruptive act of vested interests may well amount to missing the woods for the trees. There are larger points which need to be examined. There are several reports and evidence to suggest that even as India tends to improve its ranking in the global manufacturing game, the state of its workers who are needed to make it happen hasn’t improved much. A substantial chunk of over 150 million industrial workers is working in trying conditions – despite strict eight-hour shift rules, they are often forced to work for 12 hours and often not paid for their extra effort. A majority of them is not directly taken on the rolls of the company (semi-skilled and unskilled ones especially) and is engaged by contractors. By doing this, the companies do not have to bear expenses in providing any social security expenses, while the contractors do not miss any opportunity to extract the last possible dime from the wages of the workers.
The poor earning capacity of Indian workers (including industrial) was highlighted by a report in 2022, which said that 94 per cent of the workers registered on the Union government’s e-Shram portal (launched in 2021 with much fanfare promising a series of social benefits to registered users) had a monthly income of less than 10,000. The figure probably says it all. With industrial clusters being close to metro regions, this kind of average earning capacity could hardly offer a dignified living for workers’ families.
It is also no secret that wage-led turmoil has been quite common in other countries, too. But they had to eventually respond. Even China, once accused of running ghettos for workers in the manufacturing sector, also had to revise the salary structure and is no longer considered a low-wage country. India too needs to look seriously into this and act urgently. Among other things, this could also be a key message from Noida.