Published Jun 18, 2026 | 7:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 18, 2026 | 7:00 PM
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. (Supplied)
Synopsis: Inequality in Telangana exceeds the inequality that existed before the French Revolution of 1789. The new minimum wages announcement does little to address it.
The Telangana State Government on May 21 issued a policy announcement fixing minimum wages for 1.1 crore workers and employees in the state, to be implemented from June 1. Announced by the Chief Minister as a May Day gift, this policy divides the state into three zones (municipal corporations, municipalities, and rural areas), and workers into four categories (unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, and highly skilled), prescribing minimum wages accordingly.
According to this policy, in Zone 1, monthly wages have been fixed at Rs. 16,000 for unskilled workers, Rs. 17,000 for semi-skilled workers, Rs. 18,500 for skilled workers, and Rs. 20,000 for highly-skilled workers. In Zone 2, these wages are Rs. 15,000, Rs. 16,000, Rs. 17,500, and Rs. 19,000 respectively, and in Zone 3, Rs. 14,000, Rs. 15,000, Rs. 16,500, and Rs. 18,000.
Overall, by announcing an average monthly salary of only Rs. 14,000 to Rs. 20,000, the state government has displayed its ‘generosity’. That means, at the lowest level, Rs. 538 per day, and at the highest level, Rs. 769 per day.
Assuming that another member of the family is also engaged in some petty job or work, and that among the family there are two school-going children and at least one dependent elderly parent, the government seems to believe that rent, transport, food, education, healthcare, and entertainment can all be managed if each person lives on an average of Rs. 3,500–5,000 per month (Rs. 116–166 per day) as a “minimum” livelihood. Oh, what generosity!
These “minimum wages” are a strange farce. They exist in government papers and under the supervision of the labour department, but in reality everyone knows that workers are often made to work for even less than this, and that the labour market, based on supply and demand, has settled below the “minimum wages” fixed by the government.
The authority to fix minimum wages payable to workers comes to the government through the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. (Now that law has been absorbed and effectively erased within the newly-formulated Code on Wages, 2019!) Using the powers given by this law, the government and the labour department issue notifications from time to time fixing minimum wages for different categories of workers. This is not an advisory; it is a mandatory directive that must be followed. Paying less than that is not only a violation of law but illegal and a crime.
According to the law, every employer must maintain attendance registers, wage registers, records of payments made, and prepare pay slips for each worker—male or female—and be ready to present them to authorities. Inspectors have the authority to examine these records periodically or through surprise inspections. But these officials come regularly only to collect routine bribes; they rarely ask for records, and even if they do, employers offer something else in place of those records.
There is no effective machinery to continuously detect violations of minimum wages, conduct inquiries, and punish offenders; whatever exists does not function properly. Before the new code, there used to be positions like Labour Inspectors or Enforcement Officers. Above them there was a ladder of Deputy Labour Commissioners, Assistant Labour Commissioners, and Labour Commissioners—but there is no evidence anywhere that they have performed the duties expected of them.
Now, the Narendra Modi government has removed even that minimal protection and changed the designation of Labour Inspector–Enforcement Officer into Inspector-cum-Facilitator. Effectively, enforcement of minimum wages has been replaced by facilitation of minimum wages. It need not be newly-stated that this “facilitation” is not for workers, but only for employers.
There are labour courts to inquire into the crime of violating minimum wages. A worker who has not received minimum wages can complain to a labour officer, inspector, or labour court. Complaints can also be made to the labour department through a toll-free number. If an inquiry establishes the complaint as true, the labour court can order payment of the withheld wages and a compensation of up to ten times the amount. The employer can be fined and prosecuted in court.
However, all this exists only on paper. First of all, the worker knows that if a complaint is made, their existing small livelihood will be lost, and they may even face violence from the employer’s goons; outside, in the army of the unemployed, there are many ready to do the same work for even lower wages. Therefore, even the first step in this process—filing a complaint—becomes nearly impossible. Moreover, there are no written records to prove that the worker is employed by that employer at all.
On the other hand, while there are thousands and lakhs of commercial and industrial establishments, inspectors are not even in the hundreds or tens. Even if they try to visit all workplaces, it would take years. At each workplace, they cannot spend more than a few minutes. Therefore, employers know exactly when inspectors will arrive and keep both the necessary papers and the extra dole ready.
In any workplace, the majority of workers are contract labourers, casual labourers, or migrant workers. They are not directly employed by the main employer but by some outsourcing agency, subcontractor, or intermediary. Therefore, the employer’s crime never comes to light. Even if, overcoming all these obstacles, a case is actually filed, it takes months or years for resolution; for a daily-wage worker, it is impossible to bear such a laborious process.
In short, while government directives and laws speak in the language of workers’ rights, the functioning of the labour department of that very government speaks in the language of compromise, evasion, and protection of employers. Ultimately, the minimum wages announced by the government are not truly minimum wages; even those are not implemented; and the government machinery that should ensure implementation does not do its job. This is the so-called responsible attitude of governments toward the people—toward those whose labour sustains society!
This matter must also be viewed from another angle.
In the same region where the government believes that paying Rs. 538–769 per day will enable a worker’s family to live happily and return enthusiastically to work the next day, there are also people who earn that Rs. 600 not per day, but per minute, per second, or even in a fraction of a second. It is not even clear whether these highest earners are doing any socially necessary or productive labour. Even if their work stops for a day or a few days, society suffers no loss.
In this very Telangana, in Hyderabad, six thousand people have declared and paid tax on an annual income exceeding one crore rupees. “More than one crore” is only a rough phrase; in reality, there are those who declare incomes above a thousand crores annually, and those who possess wealth worth tens of thousands of crores irrespective of declared income. Assuming even a minimum 5% return on that wealth, they earn hundreds of crores annually.
Among the four richest individuals in Hyderabad from the pharma and infrastructure sectors (Divi’s Laboratories’ Murali, Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited brothers P Pitchi Reddy and PV Krishna Reddy, and Hetero Drugs’ B Parthasarathi Reddy), there is a declared wealth of Rs. 2 lakh crore. Even at a 5% return, their annual income would be ten thousand crore rupees—translating to a daily income of Rs. 6.85 crore. What they earn—not per hour, not per minute, but per second—is far, far higher than the minimum wages generously announced for workers.
While workers under the minimum wage framework labour for eight or ten hours a day without rest, those earning crores do not need to sweat even for eight minutes. Income flows continuously from their accumulated wealth, from production in their factories, and from transactions in their businesses—whether they sit, stand, lie down, eat, drink, or even on holidays.
Even if we leave aside the ultra-rich and consider only those earning one crore rupees annually, their daily income is Rs. 28,000. For those earning five crores, it is Rs. 1,37,000 per day; for those earning ten crores, Rs. 2,74,000 per day.
Without climbing to the top of those skyscrapers, even if we stop at the lowest among the high-income earners—those earning one crore annually—and compare it with the meagre Rs. 500 minimum wage thrown by the magnanimous government, the difference is 56 times. Compared to the four richest mentioned above, it is 13,000 times. That means inequality in this state exists at least at a ratio of 56:1, and at most at 13,000:1. This exceeds the inequality that existed before the French Revolution of 1789.
Does anyone remember Article 39(c) of the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution, which states that “the economic system shall be so operated as not to result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment”?
(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
