The Odisha government has enhanced the Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) payable to the semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled categories of employees in the State.
As per the notification issued by the Labour Commissioner on the eve of International Labour Day, the VDA shall now be paid at Rs 11 per day to all categories of employees in all 89 scheduled employments from April 1, 2022.
This will be in addition to the minimum rate of wages notified by the Labour and ESI department. With this, the minimum wages for the unskilled will now be Rs 326, Rs 366 for semi-skilled, Rs 416 for skilled and Rs 476 for highly skilled workers.
Earlier, unskilled workers were entitled minimum wages at Rs 315, semi-skilled Rs 355, skilled Rs 405 and highly skilled Rs 465.
It is pertinent to mention here that the State Minimum Wages Advisory Board advised to adopt a system of revision of the special allowance called Variable Dearness Allowances at Rs. 0.90 per point rise in the Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers (Base 2001-100) as admissible and shall be declared at half yearly interval - 1st April and 1st October from the date of notification of revised wages, starting from April 1, 2019.
The revision was required to be effected on the basis of the increase in average Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial workers reaching 357.65 from 345.21 as on 31.12.2021 and thereby resulting in an increase of 12.44 points, the notification added.