Rural distress deepens: Wage growth dips, non-farm jobs hit
Rural wages have grown 3.8 per cent year-on-year in December, the lowest ever for this month. Together with depressed farm prices — annual wholesale inflation in December was minus 0.07 per cent for “food” and 4.45 per cent for “non-food” articles — they point to an overall picture of rural stress going beyond agriculture ahead of the Lok Sabha elections starting next month.
The national daily rural wage rate, based on a simple average for 25 agricultural and non-agricultural occupations, stood at Rs 322.62 in December 2018, 3.84 per cent higher than the Rs 310.69 for the same month of the previous year. Given annual rural consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 1.5 per cent, it means wages rose just over 2.3 per cent in “real” terms.
The average year-on-year wage growth for December during 2014 to 2018, under the NDA government, worked out to 4.7 per cent in nominal terms and a mere 0.5 per cent in real terms after netting out inflation of 4.2 per cent. In comparison, for the same month of the preceding five years (2009 to 2013) when the UPA was in power, nominal rural wages grew by an annual average of about 17.8 per cent. While CPI inflation for agricultural workers, too, averaged 11.1 per cent, the real growth in wages was still higher at 6.7 per cent a year.
The last five years, in other words, have seen a slowdown in rural wages even after adjusting for inflation, which has been far lower than during the UPA regime.
Interestingly, the lower wage growth in the last five years has not been confined to agriculture-related work. The Labour Bureau’s data shows the average growth in December for eight main agricultural occupations — ploughing, sowing, harvesting, picking, horticultural labour, animal husbandry work, general farm operations (irrigation) and plant protection — to be at 5.14 per cent, which is higher than the 4.68 per cent for general wages. Thus, even as farmers have experienced very low price increase or even deflation for their produce, agricultural wage growth hasn’t fallen as much, thereby translating into a double margin squeeze.
On the other hand, the December year-on-year wage growth for skilled workers – carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, plumbers, electricians and light motor vehicle/tractor drivers – has lagged behind overall rural wage growth in three out of the last five years (see table). Even lower has the average growth in wages been for construction (roads, dams, well-digging, industrial projects, etc.: 4.38 per cent) and general non-agricultural labour (porters, loaders, etc.: 4.32 per cent).
Simply put, the crisis in rural India now isn’t just about farm incomes, which, The Indian Express reported on March 3, had slumped to a 14-year-low in the October-December 2018 quarter. The crisis is equally off-farm as on-farm. And that’s an ominous sign before the polls kick off.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
