3 states finalising databases for benefit of migrant workers

The migrant commission announced by the Uttar Pradesh government will map skills of workers who have returned to the state, providing data to employment exchanges while also providing workers social security measures like insurance.

New Delhi | Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are finalising their online databases of migrant workers with details such as how skilled the workers are and how they can be best employed within the state. The move comes about two weeks after the states announced a series of changes to labour laws and did away with many labour-friendly laws.

The migrant commission announced by the Uttar Pradesh government will map skills of workers who have returned to the state, providing data to employment exchanges while also providing workers social security measures like insurance.

While skill mapping by the revenue department is already on in the state, the Workers (employment and livelihood) Welfare Commission will consolidate migrant management efforts of different departments into a single body that will include industrial and social experts. It may even become a regulatory body later, invested in a large way in taking care of the workers through social security measures like insurance, said UP government officials.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had said on Sunday that the creation of this body was necessitated by the treatment meted out to the workers during the lockdown. “Through the commission, apart from mapping skills and working towards socially securing them, we will also work with other states towards passing down the benefits of all central as well as state laws framed for welfare of migrant workers,” the chief secretary of UP, RK Tiwari, told ET. Though a legislation (The Inter-state Migrant Workmen Act) with this objective was already in place, the lockdown revealed how ineffectively it had been enforced, he said.

While Adityanath also said that other states would not be required to take permission to employ UP workers, an official said nobody would be stopped from going where they want to work and that only necessary steps for ensuring their welfare would be taken. An official privy to discussions said the idea of setting up the commission was inspired by the Overseas Indian Affairs division of the external affairs ministry.

UP has received about 2.5 million workers since March 1 and the number is set to increase. A preliminary skill mapping of nearly 1.5 million workers has revealed that more than 150,000 are real estate or construction workers while about 27,000 are engaged in furniture and fitting works, 26,041 are engaged in building and home decoration, more than 12,100 are garment makers or designers while others are drivers, domestic caretakers and technicians.

Other states are not behind in the process. Rajasthan has started collecting data of both skilled and unskilled workers from all its 33 districts. The database will be made open to factory owners in 18 industrial clusters soon. The state administration has collected details of 1.2 million unemployed as well as of 2.1 million workers employed in sectors such as mining, manufacturing, electricity, gas, water and cement, said an official.

Niraj Pawan, labour secretary of Rajasthan, told ET that a government portal will soon have details of more than 3 million skilled workers in the state and will “help the government in coming out with programmes for the labourers, help in quick employment and also meet the demand and supply”.

There are about 280,000 industries registered in the state, where a total of about 5 million workers were employed earlier, according to government data. Till March 15, around 3 million workers were employed in trade and industry while 2 million were in the construction sector in the state. "Six lakh workers in trade and industry were from the state, but four lakh have already left the state. We have their details though so they can be contacted as per demand," said an official, who did not wish to be identified.

The portal will also help design training programmes for workers as per their qualifications and requirements of industries, said Pawan.

UP recently announced temporary relaxation of all except three laws and one provision for the next three years to make it easier for factories to operate in the state. Rajasthan amended Industrial Disputes Act to increase the threshold for layoffs and retrenchment to 300 from 100 earlier.

Among other states, Madhya Pradesh has restarted the Sambal Yojana, which will also cover migrant labourers and provide social security to their family members, including school fees of children and insurance. An official said the state government was first preparing a database of its workers, both residing in the state and those who have come from neighbouring states, to ensure they get work through the Centre’s flagship rural jobs programme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Experts broadly welcomed the move but cautioned that it might be restricted to announcements alone. Labour economist and XLRI professor KR Shyam Sundar told ET that the economic aspects of migration should not be overlooked for politics.

“Instead of states individually addressing social security concerns of migrants, what we need is a national law on this. We must have uniform labour standards, and states can always supplement that,” said Shyam Sundar.

The Centre is creating a code for occupational safety and the parliamentary committee has already recommended that interstate migrants be given adequate representation, he said.

“Governments need to pay more attention to skill development and employment generation rather than restrict free movement of workers within the country,” he said. “A robust system of mapping of skills should also lead to employability, apart from rigorous pursuing of industry. That is a better way of dealing with outbound migration.”

EOM