Ist May is celebrated world over as Labour Day and some also call it “May Day”. On this day the daily rated workers (DRWs) working in different departments tend to remind the incumbent government about the commitments made by the previous governments to them from time to time. Though Jammu & Kashmir Government this year hiked the daily wages of daily rated workers (DRWs) working in different departments from Rs 225 to 300 days before the Labour day annually celebrated in Jammu & Kashmir like other parts of the country but the hike in the fixed wages of the said daily rated workers (DRWs) is almost half of what workers get at construction sites, agriculture sites and apple orchards. At least the wages should have been hiked to Rs 600 a day as this what workers get at private construction sites, agriculture sites and apple orchards. More better it would have been for the government to regularize jobs of all daily rated workers working in different department as this a decades old commitment of the successive popular government s of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state is in no way different from the commitments of incumbent government of Jammu & Kashmir. What matters the most is the fact that these daily rated workers (DRWs) are playing a crucial role in taking the basic social services to the doorsteps of the people across Jammu & Kashmir. Merely appreciating workers for good work they are doing in different departments won’t work as finally welfare of the workers would generate the spirit of commitment among them which in turn would also improve the working of different departments where daily rated workers (DRWs) are working on minimum wages for decades together. Lt Governor himself pledging to establish principles of equality, welfare, and social justice in the governance conveys a message that government is now more serious than ever before about the welfare of the daily rated workers (DRWs) working in different departments across Jammu & Kashmir.
Unless and until the daily rated workers (DRWs) working in different departments are not given the sense of job security, they can’t be engaged in the process of any social and economic change in Jammu & Kashmir. What matters the most is the fact that government should embark on plans of the welfare of daily rated workers (DRWs) working in different departments without sticking to adhoc measures which haven’t brought any respite to these daily rated workers (DRWs) during several decades of popular rule in erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state.
Since Lt Governor has himself announced that government is fast tracking the process of the implementation of minimum wages act in Jammu & Kashmir, the proposed welfare measures about daily rated workers (DRWs) may take shape in coming few months. Unless and until the daily rated workers (DRWs) working in different departments are not given the sense of job security, they can’t be engaged in the process of any social and economic change in Jammu & Kashmir. What matters the most is the fact that government should embark on plans of the welfare of daily rated workers (DRWs) working in different departments without sticking to adhoc measures which haven’t brought any respite to these daily rated workers (DRWs) during several decades of popular rule in erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state.
