Govt to provide jobs to 6.7 mn migrant workers by pooling official projects

Will frontload expenditure of Rs 50,000 crore in next 125 days towards 25 areas of work in 116 districts spread across six states

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government will provide jobs to over 6 million migrant workers in six states by bringing together various government schemes.

Based on data gathered from states, the government has estimated around 10 million workers have migrated back to their villages after the national lockdown was enforced in March-end to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The Centre will front-load Rs 50,000 crore of funds for the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, which will focus on migrant workers who had returned to their villages after a nationwide lockdown was enforced in March-end to contain the spread of coronavirus. The scheme will be targeted towards workers with some skill sets and will cover 25 areas of work in 116 districts over the next 125 days.

The scheme will be formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday through video conferencing from Bihar’s Khagaria district. The scheme will encompass various schemes of the government which will be rolled out in districts with high influx of migrant workers.

“There are so many jobs provided under this scheme, which is linked to the rural sector. Workers will be immediately utilised and provided livelihood, which is the primary objective, over the next four months. We want to give the returnee workers a clear and concrete blueprint during this period,” Sitharaman said.

She, however, didn’t comment on the impact of the move on the manufacturing sector but said that companies are finding new ways to ramp up production and drawing plans to bring the workforce back.

“The key aspect of the scheme is the convergence and the fact that there will be front-loading of money for activities. It will be focused on districts with a large migrant population and will result in asset creation in a short period of time,” the FM said. She added that some of the work such as construction activities may be impacted due to the monsoon.

The six states which had the highest influx of migrants who have “settled” in their districts were: Bihar (32 districts), Uttar Pradesh (31), Madhya Pradesh (24), Rajasthan (22), Odisha (4) and Jharkhand (3). These states had 116 districts, each with at least 25,000 returning migrant workers who will benefit from the plan.

These districts had around 6.7 million migrant workers, and account for two-thirds of “returnee” workers.

The money will go towards construction of national highways and rural road connectivity, construction of wells, plantation, railway activities, community sanitation complex, horticulture, farm ponds, cattle sheds, among others. The Krishi Vigyan Kendras in villages will also help in imparting skills to the workers. The workers will be paid according to the stipulated minimum wage in the respective schemes of the government.

“Many migrant workers have returned home, rather than joining work. Industries are also doing a reset and many have reported to me that they are running at a capacity of 45-50 per cent till last week which is gradually increasing,” Sitharaman said.