Article 43 — Living wage, etc., for workers

The State shall endeavour to secure, by suitable legislation or economic organisation or in any other way, to all workers, agricultural, industrial or otherwise, work, a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities and, in particular, the State shall endeavour to promote cottage industries on an individual or co-operative basis in rural areas.

Source: Constitution of India, as published by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

A 'living wage' — sufficient to support a family in dignity — was distinguished from a 'minimum wage' (the floor below which wages cannot fall) in early labour law theory developed through the Whitley Commission and ILO deliberations. The Constituent Assembly included this aspirational standard because post-independence India inherited an economy where most workers earned subsistence wages. The promotion of cottage industries reflects Gandhi's emphasis on khadi and village crafts as economic alternatives to industrial capitalism, and the belief that rural self-sufficiency was both economically sound and morally desirable. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission, established in 1956, is the institutional expression of this directive.

• Article 39
• Article 41
• Article 42
• Article 43A

Last reviewed: 3 July 2026