NOTES 6^ being considered. 7) In the interest of maintenance and furtherance of industrial peace and harmony and promotion of tempo of production it is earnestly desired by the Government that all the parties concerned should wholeheartedly cooperate in implementing this new Bonus Formula. The decision of the Government to raise the statutory minimum bonus from 4 per cent to 8.33 per cent and to make it payable to all workers and employees in both the public and private sector establishments—irrespective of the fact whether they earn profit or incur losses, or whether they are competitive or non-competitive—marks the delayed fruition of long years of determined struggle of the working class. The success in achieving an increase in the minimum bonus has amply demonstrated their unity and strength. However, one has to remember the fact that the Bonus Review Committee was not unanimous in its report. The vested interests tried their best to undermine the whole issue. While the report of the labour representatives and public sector managements recommended a minimum bonus of 8.33 per cent for all, the representatives of the private sector along with the Chairman and another non-official member of the Bonus Review Committee recommended two categories; 8.33 per cent in the case of profit making units and 5 per cent for units making no profit or suffering losses. The latter concept was not acceptable to the Government, and accordingly the Bonus Amendment Bill, introduced in the last session of Parliament, prescribed that the minimum amount will have to be paid irrespective of profit or loss in any one year. At least in theory, there is no more dispute regarding the concept of bonus as a deferred wage—a device to cover the gap between actual and living wage. The rotten concept of bonus put forward by the capitalists and big monopoly houses, that bonus should be linked with productivity, that bonus is an ex-gratia payment, a mere gift given to the employees, a reward for productivity of labour, etc is no longer paraded in old-fashoined and blatant forms. The coverage of public sector undertakings, whether competitive or non-competitive, under the new Bonus Formula is really a big success of the working class movement. At the same time, conceding the demand for a minimum of 8.33 per cent bonus for all categories of employees neither reflects a liberal policy of the Government nor any sympathy towards the working class. In fact, the Government could no longer flout the will of the workers, their strength and unity. Strikes would have developed due to the mounting pressures of spiralling prices, refusal of demands for wage rise in a large number of industries, and the realisation that the cost of living index was a fraudulent method to deprive the workers of adequate increases in dearness allowance. The failure to neutralise the iniounting cost of living through interim relief to Central and State Government employees was already leading to a widespread discontent. The general frustration of the working class over