GS Paper 2
Syllabus: Governance, Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment
Source: IE
Direction: The article tries to give an overview of migration in India and the reasons for internal migration and the size of the migrant labour force, issues faced by them, etc.
Context: The first Jharkhand Migrant Survey (JMS) was recently conducted across 24 districts of the state.
Background:
- Nearly 8.5 lakh migrant workers belonging to the state travelled back to Jharkhand during the Covid crisis.
- The lessons from that journey have now prompted the state government to launch a key exercise for its migrant population,
- To map the major sectors of engagement for migrant workers,
- Find the social security benefits available to their families and
- Identify the health hazards they face.
- The initiative is part of the state’s Safe and Responsible Migration Initiative (SRMI), which was launched in 2021-end and includes the preparation of a database of migrant workers.
- Jharkhand is not the only state to conduct migrant labour surveys. Kerala has been a pioneer in this field, followed by states like Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
- But there is a basic difference in labour movement between Kerala and Jharkhand. In Kerala, workers mostly go abroad (mainly to Gulf countries). However, the issue is internal migration in Jharkhand.
Overview of Migration:
- Migration is the movement of people away from their usual place of residence, across either internal (within the country) or international (across countries) borders.
- As per the 2011 Census data, India had 6 crore migrants in 2011 (38% of the population) compared to 31.5 crore migrants in 2001 (31% of the population).
- 99% of total migration was internal and immigrants (international migrants) comprised 1%.
- Internal migrant flows can be classified on the basis of origin and destination.
- One kind of classification is i) rural-rural (largest – 54%), ii) rural-urban, iii) urban-rural and iv) urban-urban
- Another way to classify migration is (i) intra-state, and (ii) inter-state. In 2011, intra-state movement accounted for almost 88% of all internal migration (39.6 crore persons).
- As of 2011, UP (83 lakh residents) and Bihar were the largest source of inter-state migrants while Maharashtra (60 lakh people) and Delhi were the largest receiver states.
Reasons for internal migration and size of the migrant labour force:
- Overall, 8% of people moved within a state for work (21% of male migrants and 2% of female migrants).
- Movement for work was higher among inter-state migrants – 50% of male and 5% of female interstate migrants.
- As per the Census, there were 5 crore migrant workers in 2011, which, according to the Working Group Report on Migration, underestimates the migrant worker population.
Apart from this, one of the major reasons for inter-state or intra-state migration among women is Mairrage (Push factor).
Issues faced by migrant labour:
- Article 19(1)(e) of the Constitution, guarantees all Indian citizens the right to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India, subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of the general public or protection of any scheduled tribe.
- However, people migrating for work face key challenges including:
- Lack of social security and health benefits and poor implementation of minimum safety standards law,
- Lack of portability of state-provided benefits especially food provided through the public distribution system (PDS) and
- Lack of access to affordable housing and basic amenities in urban areas.
Steps taken by the government with regard to migrant labour:
Way ahead: Four labour codes – Code on Wages 2020, Industrial Relations Code 2020, Social Security Code 2020 and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 – needs to be notified soon.
Conclusion:
- In India, the Concurrent List includes the subject of labour. Therefore, it is necessary for the central and state governments to work together to develop a plan for the welfare of migrant workers.
- Before executing such a plan, an accurate estimation of migrant workers is required.
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