"Only 23 per cent labour working in railways paid minimum wages: CAG after reviewing 463 contracts", 8 January 2019

Only 23 per cent labour working in railways are being paid minimum wages, the Comptroller and Auditor General [CAG] of India said after reviewing 463 contracts, in a report submitted in Parliament Tuesday [8 January], a day when 10 central trade unions have called a nationwide strike for labour rights...

Railways execute a wide range of works for the creation, repair and maintenance of its assets. These works are executed through its own workers or via outsourcing. These workers are mostly classified as 'contract labour'...

In 116 contracts, contractors were not registered with the concerned regional offices of ESIC [Employees' State Insurance Corporation], and had not been allotted employer's code numbers, [CAG] said, adding in 148 contracts, [Employees' State Insurance] ESI account numbers were not obtained. "Thus, the risk of exploitation of contract labour as a result of short payment or non-payment of minimum wages and other statutory labour benefits was very high. The audit assessed such non-payment or short payments of Rs 26. 14 crore in 312 contracts reviewed...

...[T]he railways as principal employer submitted annual returns to the Central Labour Commissioner (CLC) in only 12 contracts...The auditor has recommended that a mechanism must be put in place for effective monitoring by railways such as forming a dedicated team entrusted with the overall responsibility for enforcing compliance of labour laws in the organisation...