Skip to main content

Gujarat's 73% industries 'not paying' wages, govt must compensate 75% earnings

By A Representative
Estimating that Gujarat's 73% of industrial units have not paid wages during the lockdown period, which began on March 24, three senior social activists, economist Hemantkumar Shah, environmentalist Mahesh Pandya and farmers' leader Sagar Rabari in a letter to the Gujarat government have said that the state government should pay 75% of their wages for three months, from April to June.
At the same time, the letter, written on behalf of the civil rights organization, Gujarat Social Watch, says that unorganized sections of society, including petty traders, construction workers, agricultural workers, and others, be paid Rs 3,000 for three months in order to help their families as monetary help.
Proposing a large number of measures to former IAS bureaucrat Hasmukh Adhia, who has been appointed as head of the committee to revive the state's economy, the eight-age letter said the government must abolish tax of those whose incomes are more than Rs 15,000, and increase the tax of those whose income is more than Rs 50,000 per month from 5 to 10%.
Other proposals include 25% rise in the stamp duty on the sale deed of real state property costing Rs 25 lakh or more; increase in duty on petrol and diesel; increase in property tax of those owning housing space of more than 200 metres; distribution of income from religious places to farmers' welfare, and so on.

Comments

TRENDING

Neville Cardus: The man who turned cricket writing into poetry

By Harsh Thakor*  Neville Cardus was one of the most remarkable literary figures of the twentieth century. A prolific English writer and critic, he achieved distinction in two vastly different fields: cricket and classical music. Entirely self-taught, Cardus rose from humble beginnings to become both the cricket correspondent and chief music critic of The Manchester Guardian . His achievements in these contrasting disciplines earned him widespread acclaim and established him as one of the foremost critics of his generation. In February 2025, the cricketing and literary world marked the fiftieth anniversary of his death, which occurred in February 1975.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The politics of dreaming: Savita Singh's feminist imagination

By Ravi Ranjan*  In contemporary Hindi poetry, few voices have explored the philosophical and creative possibilities of women's experience as powerfully as Savita Singh. Across collections such as "Svapna Samay" (Dream Time), Aapne Jaisa Jeevan, and "Prem Bhi Ek Yatana" Hai, she has developed a poetic world in which woman is not merely a subject of suffering or social commentary but a creator of knowledge, meaning, and alternative realities.