Although, the International Labour Organization has passed various acts and plotted various rules for the betterment of the worldwide labour, the labour in India still continues to be cheap.
A wage earner is the one who earns wages (money) to support his/her daily needs to maintain or improve his/her lifestyle.
What a labourer from US earns daily is 7 to 8 times more than what a wage earner in India earns. This is the reason due to which people from US or UK hire labour from India.
The Reality:
Due to the attraction of settling down abroad, many workers from India migrate to the foreign countries, where they are hired at low payments. As the rupee value is reducing day by day, the wages received by the Indian workers are far less than the Indian ones working abroad. A McDonald’s worker in USA earns USD 7.33 per hour while a McDonald’s worker in India earns just USD 0.46 per hour.
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This is an eye striking difference that can be brought to the notice of the workers. India, where resides the population more than 1.21 billion, continues facing the problem of unemployment since years. Even child labour is still practiced where children are the daily wage earners and all they earn is food at lunch and dinner times in return of their labour.
In the developing country like India where the government has to concentrate first upon the basic needs, people have to struggle with their daily earnings. Although advancements are made for the benefits of the Wage Earners like providing them with Meal Coupons, it still becomes difficult to cope up with the increasing inflation.
Causes:
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The cause is an ancient cause which still keeps persisting- ‘the population’. Due to a vast population, availability of the labour is more, but the labour that gets employment is less. So, the wage earners do not get the desired as well as the deserved wages, which leads to the discontent among them. Decreasing value of Indian currency is one of the major causes for this as well.
Remedy:
Controlling of population and use of goods manufactured in India i.e., home made goods would lead to increase in the value of rupee. The wage earners need to form not just unions but powerful unions that find solutions to daily problems of the workers. Quality training must be provided so that each wage earner adds a value to whichever company he works in and thereby do not be a burden to the company but be the asset. Special offers should be provided to them by the banks regarding loan facilities so that it will cause fewer burdens upon them.
Conclusion:
Although the advancements are taking place in science and technology, the condition of the wage earners continues to be miserable leading to their migration to other foreign countries, thereby draining all the skilled and working labour outside India. And of course the kind of wages the companies will provide, would lead to the production of the same kind of wage earners…the contented or the discontented.