Editorial Simplified: Creating Sanctuaries of hope for Migrant Workers | GS – II


Relevance :  GS Paper  II


Theme of the Article

Promises like ‘Housing for All by 2022’ fail to address the needs of migrants.


Introduction

There is a wilderness within our borders. It’s so vast that it covers an entire nation, with around 100 million inhabitants, one-fifth of our labour force. The total earnings of these seasonal wanderers, India’s internal migrant workers, are around $170 billion per annum, i.e. around 6% of India’s GDP.


The sad state of Affairs

  • The migrant population in India is riddled with the issues of inadequate housing; low-paid, insecure or hazardous work; extreme vulnerability of women and children to trafficking and sex exploitation; exclusion from state services such as health and education; and discrimination based on ethnicity.
  • Furthermore, there are mental health issues, not to mention the darkness of debt-ridden, bonded labour.
  • A a treasure-trove of close to $3 billion, levied as cess on builders under two migrant workers acts, lies grossly underutilised.
  • Access to the money eludes migrant workers as they need to provide proof of address, which is difficult due to the fluidity of their lives. Further, ration cards, Voter IDs and Aadhaar cards are also not easy to obtain.

Way forward

  • Trade unions are the best way for the workers to benefit from government welfare schemes but employers often prefer hiring unregistered migrants over their registered counterparts, further distancing the migrants’ access.
  • There is also the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act (1979), enacted to prevent migrant workers from being exploited, but it is rarely invoked and the penalty is minimal. This needs improvement.
  • There are rays of hope, stemming from civil society organisations some Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives; forward-thinking government schemes like that for affordable, migrant housing in Bhuj; and from these resolute workers themselves (the women toilet-masons of Assam are a story of positive irony, for a change).
  • We need something more than the promise of ‘Housing for All by 2022’, which fails to address the needs of accommodation for such workers.
  • There need to be multi-level reforms, with an emphasis on sustainable, inclusive construction practices; affordable temporary housing schemes; and inclusive urbanisation at the top. These should be peppered with legally binding implementation protocols.

Conclusion

We need to accommodate the wilderness within, so as to help morph this open cage, in which migrant workers live, into a sanctuary of inclusive hope.


Leave a Reply