Priest fights for poor workers’ overdue wages

(June 19, 2010) A Salesian priest in Gujarat, India, is fighting for hundreds of poor workers to be paid wages due to them under a job guarantee scheme. Father Mayank Parmar and workers from dalit and other underprivileged communities staged a day-long sit-in outside a government official’s office in Kheda district on June 14. Dalit are the former “untouchables” under the Indian caste system. The protesters demanded timely payment for wages and punishment for government officials responsible for the delay. They also submitted a memorandum to the official, S. Murali Krishnan. “Due to a lack of awareness, these workers have become victims of official indifference and apathy,” said Father Parmar, who works with the NGO Drishti Shramik Sangathan (workers vision forum), operated by the Don Bosco Trust. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which came into force in August 2005, provides adult members of rural households a legal guarantee of 100 days of employment in each financial year at a minimum wage of 100 rupees per day to be paid within 15 days. However, 400 workers from 11 villages have not received their wages for as long as three months and most of the workers there are illiterate, said Father Parmar.