Dear Gaurav,
In the first place, Yours is a thought-provoking question as it presupposes a firm conviction that the fixation of minimum wages exclusively for contract labour and its periodical revision alone would neither solve the problems of contract labour as a less-privileged class of labour nor eradicate the menace of contract labour as a system of indirect employment.
If any activity of business, trade, commerce, manufacture or analogous thereto is perennial in nature, it requires a labour force for hire that has got the feature of regularity in terms of attendance, working hours, leave and holidays, payment of wages, methods of work, control and supervision by the employer, tenure of employment etc., thus creating a direct and implicit nexus or a long-lasting relationship between the employer and the persons employed which is otherwise called as the contract of service. In short, this is what is called as the system of direct labour that is employed on the core activity of the establishment.. Still there may be certain other activities which are incidental to the main activity and last for a limited duration of time involving no skill or altogether different type of skill and hence no supervision of the employer.When some people are engaged for such activities that is called casual employment which is only ad hoc. How ever, when such incidental activities require more no of people and considerably last longer, in order to ensure their timely mobilisation and supervision, the assignment is given to a third person simply in terms of the results to be produced by means of a time-bound agreement or contract and the labour engaged therein are called contract labour which is nothing but a form of indirect employment just because of the presence of an intermediary. Thus the contract labour has two employers i.e the immediate employer who is the contractor and the principal employer for whom the contract labour have to work.So far so good.
But the real problem arises when the contract labour are shifted to the core activities of the establishment purely for reasons of economy, higher bargaining power of regular workforce because of their unionisation, flexibility of employment in tune with market conditions etc. Though the Contract Labour ( Regulation and Abolition ) Act,1970 has stringent provisions, the lack of political will has resulted in its diluted enforcement. The difference between core and incidental activities are practically not at all taken into consideration now a days in the engagement of contract labour. Engaging contract labour in any activity other than those prohibited u/s10 of the Act has become the normal practice.
In this context, whether the proposal to raise the minimum wages of the contract labour to Rs.10,000-00 will serve any useful purpose seems to me doubtful. Already minimum wages are fixed scheduled employment-cum- post wise without any distinction as to the nature of employment such as permanent, temporary etc. Therefore, contract labour are also entitled to the minimum wages in force. If the minimum wages are fixed exclusively for contract labour as a distinct class without reference to the job done by them, it may be lesser than the rate fixed for a particular job in the establishment or industry. So, let's wait and see the notification.