Discuss the measures that Government of India must take to address the challenges faced by the migrant workers during the phase of lockdown. (200 Words)
Refer - Business Standard
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· According to the 2011 Census, migrant labour constituted 36 per cent of India’s total population.. This high percentage obscures the fact that migrant labour is concentrated in India’s cities, which constitute 30 per cent of the country’s population.
· This cohort is mostly young, connected to their families and to their mates through mobile telephone and exposed relentlessly to the inequities of income and wealth on display all around them.
· A total lockdown does not take into account the existential reality of daily wage labour or contract labour, for whom no work may mean no food or shelter. This is what drove the thousands to defy curfew and literally start walking back to their village communities even hundreds of miles away.
· It is in this context that we need to debate a new Social Compact that explicitly acknowledges the symbiotic relationship between this mass of young people and the economy.
· The State, at both the provincial and central levels, must reach out to this cohort wherever they may be and offer financial and other support to help tide over the current crisis.
· The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act should be ramped up significantly as a means of ensuring funds into the hands of people without requiring participation in labour during lockdown.
· The State at all levels will need to work out a phased plan to enable migrant labour to come back to their respective places of work in close collaboration with industry and service-related activities.
· The Compact must include a commitment by the State to ensure minimum wage and work conditions for migrant labour, including insurance.
· The National Skills Mission may be restructured and repurposed to provide opportunities to this category of labour to acquire new skills through training and graduate in terms of income and living conditions.
reign4518 4 years
Bihar state government turned government schools into quarantine centres for isolating the migrant workers.But the migrant workers are staying there,only during day times,and during night times they are going to their respective homes.A Village Head was questioned by a New reporting agency regarding this, he said that there were no properwater facilities,washrooms,electricity in the schools and they were coming during day time,for only free food provided by the Government.This is one of the challenges faced by the migrant workers in the present situation.
Measures to be taken by the Government of India :
Basic Needs : Basic needs like food,clothing,shelter should be given utmost importance.Government ensured that landlords do not evict tenants for atleast a month or two.But this is not happening in every state,so Government of India should act properly in this regard,can direct state governments to monitor this issue seriously by opening complaint cells.
No Delay in the implementation of the schemes :
1.Under Prandhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana,Government is supplying free ration for the next three months,As one nation,one ration scheme is delayed,migrant workers who are not having ration cards should not be neglected.
2.Government has announced Rs.500 deposit into Jan Dhan Yojana Accounts,as accounts were freezed,Government ensured unfreezing of these accounts under Prevention of money Laundering Act,2002.But banks are not able to take action on this properly,resulting in the delay of the funds,for getting reflected in the beneficiery's account.
Strengthening and implementation of existing laws : The Inter State Migrant Workmen(Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service Act) 1997 and Unorganised Social Security Act 2008 should be implemented effectively on war foot basis.
Engaging NGO's and CSR measures in rural areas : NGO's and Corporate Social responsibility funds are mainly focused in a few states which should be extended to the states like Bihar ,Uttar Pradesh where the migrant worker concentration is more.By issuing proper guidelines under Niti Aayog NGO Darpan,Government can work out on this.
According to economic survey 2016-17,there was an average flow of around 9 million please between the states for work related issues,Government should ensure that these population should not fall between the cracks of schemes announced by the Centre and the States.
IAS Parliament 4 years
Good attempt. Try to cut short the introduction part. Keep Writing.
Shivangi 4 years
Please review.
IAS Parliament 4 years
Try to include some government schemes related to the question. Keep Writing.
