Kathmandu, Jan. 14:His Majesty’s Government has fixed the minimum wage for agricultural workers throughout the country at Rs. 60/- per day and Rs. 7/50 per hour.

According to the Ministry of Labour, the ddcs will fix the minimum wage at local level in line with the minimum wage rate fixed by the government. However, if the wages in some places is higher than what the government has fixed it should not be reduced.

Likewise, the ddcs, vdcs and municipalities will implement and monitor the wages, and will look into the complaints filed with them regarding the wages.

In the event of any problem arising from the implementation or non implementation of the minimum wages, the district administration and labour offices concerned should cooperate with the ddcs, municipalities and vdcs in resolving the problems.

The Ministry has also made it clear that the men and women are entitled to the same wage rate for same kinds of works and the daily working hour has been fixed at eight hours.

Employment of children under the age of 14 has been prohibited, while arrangements have been made to prohibit the employment of children from 14 to 16 years of age in risky jobs.

Likewise, the working hour for children from 14 to 16 years of age has been fixed at  six hours a day and 36 hours a week.

If the children from 16 to 18 years of age are to be employed for some work before 6 a.m. and  after 6 p.m. It should be done through mutual consent between the workers and the farmers.

A high level committee has also been formed under the chairmanship of the Ministry of Labour for regular monitoring of the implementation  of minimum wages.

The committee comprises National Planning Commission members looking after matters concerning agriculture and labour, the secretaries at the ministries of home, local development, law and justice, industry, commerce, and land reforms and labour, the presidents of trade union federations, the president of farmers associations, the presidents of fncci and employers’ council, the chairmen of association of ddcs, municipality association and vdc association.

Meanwhile, His Majesty’s Government has formed a committee to fix the minimum wage rate for tea estate workers.

The committee headed by the director general of the Department of Labour comprises representatives from the Labour Ministry, Ministry of Agriculture, Nepal Trade Union Congress, Tea Estate Trade Union, Democratic Confederation of Trade Unions, Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions and FNCCI.