Kharge Asks Why Minimum Wages For Agricultural Workers in Several States Haven't Been Revised Since 2014
New Delhi: Congress national president and Rajya Sabha leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge has flagged the non-revision of minimum wages for agricultural workers in several states since 2014, according to a report by The Tribune.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha this week, Kharge sought clarity on why wages had remained stagnant for a decade. In her response, Union minister of state for labour and employment Shobha Karandlaje did not specify why revisions were absent since 2014-15, but stated that agricultural wages are governed by the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, under the respective jurisdictions of the Centre and the States.
Karandlaje informed the Upper House that the 1948 Act has now been subsumed into the Code on Wages, 2019. The Tribune reported that this new code, part of a broader overhaul of four labour codes, came into effect on November 21, 2025.
The Code on Wages, 2019, passed by Parliament in August 2019, serves as an umbrella legislation. It consolidates and replaces four major statutes:
- The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
- The Minimum Wages Act, 1948
- The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965
- The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
The minister submitted that this legislation expands the statutory right to minimum wages to all employees across both organised and unorganised sectors. She further noted that the code is designed to ensure fair remuneration while prohibiting gender-based discrimination.
"The Code on Wages, 2019 empowers both the Central and State Governments to fix, review and revise the minimum rates of wages for the establishments falling within their respective jurisdiction," Karandlaje stated, as per the report.
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