'Wages in India lower than Pakistan, Nigeria': Congress' Pawan Khera cites global report to slam Modi government

Among the countries surveyed for the lowest minimum wage, India only ranks above Sri Lanka ($28) and Kyrgyzstan ($28), which translates to Rs 2,340 approximately.

Congress leader Pawan Khera has flagged a global report that revealed that wages in India are lower than those of under-developed nations like Pakistan and Nigeria.

Khera shared a picture of the top 10 countries with the lowest minimum wage in 2024 according to Velocity Global 2024, among which India has the poorest rank.

The monthly minimum wage in India is $45 (Rs 3,760.61), while in Nigeria it is $76 (Rs 6,351.25) and in Pakistan it is $114 (Rs 9,526.88).

"While Prime Minister Narendra Modi sells the dream of making India the 3rd-largest economy in terms of GDP growth, reality is quite different," the senior leader said in his post X.

Among the countries surveyed for the lowest minimum wage, India only ranks above Sri Lanka ($28) and Kyrgyzstan ($28).

The Congress has also been training guns on the BJP over the issue of unemployment in the country.

On Sunday, the party alleged that the Modi government has accentuated the country's "unemployment crisis" with "Tughlakian demonetisation, a hastily rushed GST, and rising imports from China" that have allegedly decimated job-creating MSMEs.

In a statement, Congress general secretary, in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh cited a new report by Citigroup, a global bank, to flag "alarming numbers", which he claimed confirmed what the Congress stated throughout the recent election campaign.

"The Indian National Congress has been sounding the alarm on India's unemployment crisis for the past five years at least. The crisis has been accentuated with the decimation of job-creating MSMEs through the 'Tughlakian demonetisation, a hastily rushed through GST, and rising imports from China," Ramesh said.

Ramesh shared highlights of the report which stated that India must create 1.2 crore jobs per year for the next 10 years to employ our youth.

"Even 7 per cent GDP growth will not create enough jobs for our youth - under the non-biological PM's government, we have averaged just 5.8 per cent GDP growth. The failing Modi economy is the root cause of the unemployment crisis," Ramesh said.

"There are 10 lakh central government job vacancies - which is not just a travesty for our educated youth, but a constraint on our government's functioning," he said.

Only 21 per cent of India's labour force has a salaried job, lower than the 24 per cent pre-Covid, Ramesh said, citing a report.

With PTI inputs