Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared that the government aims to make minimum wages applicable to all workers, which is now only applicable to 30 percent of workers.

It also aims to remove disparity of minimum wage and compulsory give appointment letters to all workers.

Announcing the second tranche of the economic stimulus package, the work has been offered to 2.33 crore wage seekers till May 13. About 40-50 percent more persons have been enrolled as compared to May last year, she said.

On reforms in pipeline, she said the government is for the universal right to minimum wages and wants to remove regional disparity through a national floor wage.

On her last press conference, she also clarified that the EPF of 12% + 12% both will be borne by the government of India for PSUs. This will also be extended for the next three months.

She also said that Rs 10,000 crore has been spent in the last two months on creating 14.62 crore man-days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) to help migrant workers.

Yesterday, the Finance Minister also announced reducing the TDS rates by 25 percent. This is applicable to all payments - interest, rent, brokerage, supply, etc. This will be enforced from today till March 31, 2021.