Gandhinagar, Mar 23 (IANS): Gujarat's Labour and Employment Minister Dilip Thakor on Monday could not specify the number of work hours fixed by the government for a farm labourer to avail the minimum wages, despite his department fixing and revising the time and wages just two months back.

Responding to Congress member Imran Khedawala's question on minimum wages set for a farm labourer as of January 31, 2021, Thakor, in a written reply, said that the government had fixed the minimum wages at Rs 178 for a daily wage labourer while for a regularised permanent labourer, the rate was Rs 64,970 for a year, as fixed on September 19, 2019.

Rising to answer during a discussion on the issue, Thakor said that according to the latest revised rates mentioned in the Government Resolution (GR) issued on January 1 2021, the basic wage rate was fixed at Rs 268 and a special allowance was set at Rs 56.20.

But as Khedawala wanted to know that for how many hours was the farm labourer required to work to be eligible for these wage rates, the Minister was at a loss. Despite Speaker Rajendra Trivedi repeatedly warning the Minister to come to the point and answer the question precisely, Thakor could not give a satisfactory answer.

However, the GR clearly states that the basic minimum wages for farm labourers is set for eight hours of work per day.