Migrant workers returning, getting work: Labour and Employment Minister

Millions of migrant workers went back to their home states during the COVID-19 pandemic

Around one crore migrant workers went back to their home states during the COVID-19 pandemic but most of them have now returned and are getting employment,

Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said on Wednesday in Rajya Sabha.

"As per the information gathered, around one crore labourers returned to their home states from their workplace States. But, now most of them have gone back to work and are getting placement," he said during Question Hour.

The minister was answering to a supplementary question asked by senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav who wanted to know how many labourers in the unorganised sector lost jobs during the coronavirus pandemic following closure of factories.

Noting that there are 10 crore labourers in the organised sector and 40 crore in the unorganised sector, Gangwar said the government is making efforts and running programmes to shift the workforce employed in the unorganised sector to organised sector.

"Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the government," he said in a written reply to a starred question.

The government has taken various steps for generating employment in the country, the minister said.

The measures include encouraging various projects involving substantial investment and increasing public expenditure on schemes like Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY).

"The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS), is a demand driven wage employment programme. A rural household, adult members of which agree to unskilled manual work, is entitled for hundred days of wage employment," Gangwar said.