WAGE FREEZE NOT PRACTICABLE

New Delhi, July 28 (PTI). MR. Jagjivan Ram, who was inaugurating a conference of State Labour Ministers on the eve of the Indian Labour conference, said any wage freeze "is bound to result in hardships to the workers whose daily life is even otherwise being subjected to severe strains." "It may be hard to persuade even the best intentioned among the trade union leaders to accept limitation on wages if there are no similar restraints on prices and profits," he added. At same time, Mr. Jagjivan Ram said, in the existing conditions" our economy can hardly afford to meet in full any demand for a general wage rise. Arrangements would have to be made whereby workers were at least assured the supply of their essential requirements at fairly reasonable prices."