August 11, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 26, 1428

NEW DELHI: Eighty-six per cent of working Indians earn less than Rs20 or half a dollar a day, untouched by the country's blistering economic growth, a government-backed study said on Friday.

Out of 457 million workers, 395 million are employed in the so-called unorganised sector — in areas such as agriculture, construction, weaving and fishing — the study found.

“Only 0.4 per cent of the 395 million unorganised sector workers have access to any form of social security,” added the report from the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector.

“... 79 per cent of unorganised workers ... earn less than 20 rupees (49 cents) a day,” it said describing their living conditions as “sordid,” and “utterly deplorable.” “No social security, pitiable working conditions, extreme poverty, no education, acute gender discrimination, and absent or poorly implemented laws - this is what India's workers live by,” said author of the report and senior government official.

It was sent earlier this week to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who continually warns that the dividends of India's economic boom must trickle down.

At the same time, the number of Indians with a net asset of at least a million dollars reportedly crossed the 100,000 mark last year.—AFP