REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR
1338
III
REVIEW OF WAGES & WAGE
POLICY
12.130 Our terms of reference make
only a tangential and incidental
reference to the question of wages
and productivity. They do not form
part of the central focus of the task
that has been entrusted to us. Even
so, it cannot be denied that wages
and productivity are among the
central concerns of workers as
well as entrepreneurs. One seeks
employment so that one can attain a
‘decent’ or dignified standard of living.
The wage or income that one obtains
from one’s work is therefore, what
enables one to achieve a fair standard
of living. One seeks a fair wage both
to fulfil one’s basic needs and to feel
reassured that one receives a fair
portion of the wealth that one works
to generate for society. Society, in its
turn, feels that it has a duty to ensure
a fair wage to every worker, to ward
off starvation and poverty, to promote
the growth of human resources, and
to ensure social justice without which
continuous threats to law and order
may undermine economic progress.
12.131 But the resources to pay
wages have also to be created. They
have to come from the economic
viability and profit of undertakings. So
those who run undertakings are
concerned with their capacity to pay
the wages that are considered to be
fair both in terms of individual needs
and the social responsibi lity to
citizens.
12.132 Our Constitution accepts the
responsibility of the state to create an
economic order in which every citizen
finds employment and receives a ‘fair
wage’. One of the earliest decisions
taken by the government of free India
was to set up a Committee to define
a fair wage, and indicate the
economic and legal means for
ensuring a fair wage to every
employed citizen. An examination of
this question established the integral
relation between the quantum of the
fair wage and the capacity to pay the
wage, and the need to balance and
constantly upgrade both to ensure a
fair standard of life, social security
and social justice.
12.133 Ever since t