Siddaramaiah's Karnataka government goes all out to woo unorganised sector

BENGALURU: The Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka has gone into an overdrive in executing long-overdue measures in the labour department in a bid to earn goodwill from the workers in the unorganised sector. Assembly elections in the state are due in a year.

While the stress on consolidating the votes of the backward classes, minorities and Dalits—called ‘Ahinda’ in Kannada—continues, the Congress government is also quietly pushing the welfare plank, a priority for party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, through these measures .

“It will pay us political dividends, yes. But our intent is not just that. Our intent is to genuinely do something for unorganised sector workers who have no safety net of any kind,” Karnataka’s labour minister Santosh S Lad told ET.


The government has already reached out to the salaried white-collar employees by enhancing the retirement age from 58 to 60. Over the last six months, several other policies have been put in place for blue-collared workers, including an accident insurance for all auto, taxi, maxi-cab, lorry and bus drivers, in both public and private sector, as well as for cleaners, who have so far not be covered under any measure.

The department has set aside Rs 29 crore for the purpose, “to provide security for the families of these drivers and cleaners.” The minimum wages to be paid to employees in 64 occupations under the unorganised sector have been increased by a minimum of Rs 1,000.