86 percent of Indian workers earn less than a dollar a day
NEW DELHI: Eighty-six percent of working Indians earn less than 20 rupees or half a dollar a day, untouched by the countrys blistering economic growth, a government-backed study said Friday.
Out of 457 million workers, 395 million are employed in the so-called unorganised sector - in areas such as agriculture, construction, weaving and fishing - the study found. Only 0.4 percent of the 395 million unorganised sector workers have access to any form of social security, added the report from the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector. ... 79 percent of unorganised workers ... earn less than 20 rupees (49 cents) a day, it said describing their living conditions as sordid, and utterly deplorable.
No social security, pitiable working conditions, extreme poverty, no education, acute gender discrimination, and absent or poorly implemented laws - this is what Indias workers live by, said author of the report and senior government official Arjun Sengupta.
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