Migrant Workers in India-
Migration of workers from one place to the other is a human phenomenon in search of a source of survival. Migrations have economic genesis however ensuing socio-political cultural ramifications. In economic idiom, migration is perceived as once an individual is engaged or probably to engage in a very remunerative activity in a place that he is not a native or national. People that are disgraced from their land, generally belong to lower castes, endemic communities and economically backward regions represent the foremost portion of migrants.
The rural individuals from the downtrodden and backward communities and backward regions like Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Mizoram and Uttar Pradesh travel way afield seeking employment at rock bottom rungs in construction of roads, irrigation projects, industrial and residential complexes, in short, building the “shining” India.
The pull factors of upper wages caused external migration to the Middle-East countries by versatile and semiskilled employees. Migration of pros like Engineers, Medical Practitioners, Teachers and Managers etc. to developed countries constitutes another dimension of migration that we understand as “brain-drain”. In terms of employment, construction is the largest employment sector in India after agriculture.
Most of the workers in construction are per se migrants. The hours of operation are from sunrise to sunset. The working day for female usually stretches from fourteen to sixteen hours, combining housework and work on the construction site wherever they are paid Rs. 350 each day whereas men are paid Rs.450. Masons earn up to Rs.650 each day (which shows that there is gender discrimination and Mason itself is a male). Workplaces are unsafe. Workers do not have any Social Security, compensation for injuries, access to fresh and clean drinking water and health care. India has the world’s highest accident rate among construction workers. A recent study by the International Labour Organization shows that a 165 out of every 1000 workers are wounded on the construction site while performing their tasks.
The Government of India in the year 1979, enacted an Act, which was an Act of Parliament known to be as Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service), lays down the provisions that the contractors should pay an equal or higher wage than the Minimum Wage Rate and especially on time, accompanied with the prescribed medical and health care facilities and basic amenities. It is another matter of fact that the Act only existed on the paper and not in reality. Another enactment which was introduced in the year 2005, that was with relation to the Seasonal Migration was the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which guarantees 100 days of employment every year. The wage rate system is governed by the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
And at last, Government of India should take measures to curb Migration of Workers as it is a matter of great concern, as poor is unable to fulfil even its basic amenities, only the Government, by way of Employment Generation can exercise the same.
Post written by-
Gurmeet Singh Jaggi
Delhi Metropolitan Education, GGSIPU
BBA LLB (Hons.)
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