Prakash High School
Establish social security boards for unorganised workers with simple registration methods like self-registration through mobile SMS. Digitise records for portability of protection and benefits Allow portability of Public Distribution System benefits follo
Migrant inmates at the Maner centre
The national argument about the movement of migrant workers during the lockdown is fuelling a twin crisis. Some state governments want migrants to be allowed to return home, while others would rather the ‘virus carriers’ stay put where they are. On one hand is the humanitarian issue—these workers have been left to fend for themselves in the harsh financial climate of the lockdown. On the other is the economic issue—the restrictions on movement and uncoordinated response by central and state governments have created a crisis of labour scarcity in cities and towns across India.
Experts say the humanitarian crisis is the outcome of abject apathy and a total failure on the part of the authorities to understand the conditions and take responsibility for the well-being of workers. Meanwhile, migrant workers find themselves practically devoid of agency, at the whim of state government policies that might hold them back or push them out. “In states like Maharashtra, migrant workers have been herded out with no recourse. In others, like Karnataka, they have been trapped. Borders among and within states have also hardened, stripping migrants of their mobility, agency and dignity,” says Professor S. Irudaya Rajan of the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, who has steered the Migration Surveys in Kerala for over two decades. For example, in early May, under pressure from local employers’ unions, the Karnataka government had attempted to stop the trains allocated for stranded migrants to return to their home states, citing an urgent need for workers so that economic activity could resume. A surge of protests forced the decision to be revoked within 24 hours. Nonetheless, even when migrants manage to return home, their situation is dire. “Migrants are returning home empty-handed and with the further stigma of being virus carriers,” explains Rajan.
Announcing its Rs 20 lakh crore revival package, the central government has, as a short term measure, earmarked Rs 3,500 crore to provide food (five kg of rice and one kg of pulses) to those outside the ambit of the National Food Security Act, 2013. It has also increased the budget for MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) by Rs 40,000 crore. Long-term plans include providing affordable rental housing for migrant workers under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and a ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme that allows ration card portability. Providing affordable rental housing in a public-private partnership mode through concessionaire agreements and incentivising states to tap and set apart such housing near work spots may be a tempting idea, but finding accommodation in cities where real estate prices are high is a challenge. Further, these measures are to be implemented by next year and, then too, their success
Of all the recommendations by the Working Group on Migration under the Union ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation in 2017, the food security initiative is the only key proposal implemented. Still on the to-do list:
Social net
Food security
Healthcare
Skill development
Financial services
such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the basic needs of food and housing security have been handled well—more than half the government-run shelter camps in the country for migrants stranded in the lockdown are in Kerala, and the roughly 300,000 residents of these camps are being provided food by state-run community kitchens.
Some state governments have a different perspective. In Maharashtra, there are no plans to welcome back migrant workers. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, while appealing to departing migrant workers to remain in the state, also asked locals to take up the vacated jobs. The state has also decided to form a labour bureau to enlist unemployed locals and upgrade their skills. “We have allowed industries to extend work shifts from eight to 12 hours if there is a shortage of workers,” says state labour minister Dilip Walse-Patil. “This will continue until the situation turns normal.”
The Gujarat government says it is too early to have a return plan for workers and is focused on getting industries back on track. “Let us first establish the demand and supply chain,” says state chief secretary Anil Mukim. “The [migrant] workers had made up their mind to go home, and there was no way they were willing to stay back. I don’t see much difficulty in their return once things get stabilised.”
There are other issues affecting the movement of migrants as well. An example is the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s Raj Thackeray demanding that the state regulate the entry of all migrants into the state (which violates Article 19 of the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of movement throughout India). Sharma points out that such changes will affect migration patterns in the long run. “The change in migration patterns will not only be affected by the availability and nature of work but also by how cities regulate the flow of migrants and the hostility they face,” he says.
“The trust factor between migrant workers and their destinations has been affected,” says Varun Aggarwal, founder, India Migration Now, a migration research policy and advocacy organisation. “Contractors and other members of the migrant social network have also been severely impacted. They need to recover for migration to restart.” He argues that in destination states, all domicile restrictions (for government programmes) should be removed, so that migrants have incentives to stay. A federal interstate coordination mechanism could incentivise the return of workers to their respective workplaces—and those who return should be provided work. At the central level, he says the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan model could be used to give migrants access to education under the Right to Education.
Migrant workers and the larger body of informal workers have been the hardest hit by the lockdown, and any recovery must ensure that their constitutionally guaranteed rights are safeguarded, not weakened. Governments must invest in rural economies via programmes like MGNREGA to ensure that migration is not born out of distress. Cities must undertake enumeration of migration settlements and high-migration areas and not only recognise migrants as legitimate urban citizens but also to accommodate them in the planning of crucial urban programmes such as NULM (National Urban Livelihoods Mission) and health schemes.
Clearly, the entire regulatory framework for migrant workers needs re-examination. Currently, there is only the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, that governs their working conditions—a law that is often described as a tiger without teeth. As migrant workers are often at the mercy of employers, there is a desperate need to ensure thorough implementation of at least the minimum laws. “The formulation of a national policy framework is vital in order to ensure a sustainable long-term path for migration,” says Rajan. A ‘New Return Policy’ should be part of any such framework so that situations such as the ongoing humanitarian crisis do not recur. This could include initiatives like a national emergency fund for distressed migrant workers, skill upgradation schemes through institutes like the National Skill Development Agency and programmes like Skill India, and a national migration survey to provide a robust database for policymakers.
What seems likely is that 2020 will pass before business returns to a familiar normal. What is certain is that the economy will contract in the coming year. In the short term, both migrant workers and employers will lose and it will take some time to recover from the current crisis. ■
—with inputs from Uday Mahurkar and Kiran D. Tare