Minimum wage revision brings little relief to workers

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For over one crore workers in the unorganised sector, May 21 of 2026 was just another mundane work day. Revision of minimum wages by the Telangana State government after a gap of two decades had no impact on their lives-- no better, none the worse.

Most of the workers in the 73 listed fields of employment are still earning the same wages as before, while a few might have added up just a few hundreds of rupees per month to their payment.

While the government may claim 25-37% increase in the wages when compared with the last time the wages were revised, the same is not reflected in the real wages calculated after adding the variable dearness allowance which is revised from time to time.

For instance, the latest monthly minimum wages fixed for sanitation workers are ₹16,000 in Zone-1, ₹15,000 in Zone-2 and ₹14,000 in Zone 3. The actual wages being earned after successive VDA additions for the same employment, however, range between ₹16,872 for Zone-3 to ₹17,332 for Zone-1.

Major metropolitan areas are categorised as Zone-1 in which the highest minimum wages are determined, while rural areas and smaller municipalities have progressively lower baseline wages.

The government also introduced zonal systems into the fields which hitherto had none. For instance, manufacturing industries and contract labour did not have zones earlier, but now they are divided into three zones. In Manufacturing, there is marginal benefit in the unskilled category, but it becomes negative for semi-skilled workers in Zones 2&3, and for highly skilled workers in this field, the gap increases further-- ₹4,270-6,270 less than the existing minimum wages.

What’s worse, the revised wages are far lower than the minimum wages fixed by the Central government. As per the previous revision by the Centre in 2017, the highest of ₹21,502 per month was fixed for sweepers in the A category cities. Added with VDA, it is much higher now, whereas the Telangana government fixed the minimum pay at ₹16,000 for the same job.