The announcement of the Seventh Pay Commission (SPC) could bring a half cheer for the five million government employees and three million pensioners for whom it is meant. When the euphoria dies down they will discover that they will have to wait till January 2016 to reap the benefits. Also, the ill-informed media hype that the over '1 lakh crore this will entail will impose a burden on the fiscal deficit betrays their penchant for jumping to conclusions and misleading the public. Shorn of verbiage, the SPC announcement for, the moment, is a gimmick aimed at appeasing the middle class on the eve of Assembly elections in five states and the 2014 general election. How much this will tilt the scales in favour of the ruling party is difficult to say considering that people’s trust in politicians in India has been eroding since 2009 and is at its lowest, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2013-14. It said India ranked 115th in terms of public trust in politicians. While the SPC is a legitimate demand, it would have been welcome if the government had shown the same urgency for the four crore workers in the unorganised sector. Organised labour unions from across the political spectrum, including the Congress’ INTUC, have for the last five years been fighting for benefits for the unorganised sector, like a minimum wage, social security, pension, bonus, abolition of contract labour, etc. On February 20 and 21 this year, these unions presented a 10-point charter of demands for the rights of the four crore unorganised sector workers. Hence half a cheer or less.
