Sheltering migrants

Six states have signed MoUs to protect migrant labourers from exploitation and to ensure their rights

If millions have come out of hopeless deprivation in the past decade, it is probably due to migration. Schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme have done little to stop this phenomenon. Given the fact that most farmers had been living with their backs to the wall, the only way out was to work in other areas and earn enough to support their fields. While migration to cities has helped agriculture and improved the standards of living in rural areas, the condition of the migrants themselves has led to concern. At best, it is exploitative; at worst, a veiled form of trafficking.

Often, contractors gather prospective migrants from a village, after paying an advance to their families, and later, make them work on their terms and live in conditions dictated by them. Brick kilns, which are doing brisk business, thanks to the construction boom, have become hot spots for exploitation. The labour ministry, along with the International Labour Organization (ILO), has started addressing this issue.

Odisha has seen labourers migrating to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh for many years. Last year, the two states signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure the migrant worker had access to basic labour rights, including food, health care, minimum wages and education. This year, four other states - Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar - have signed similar pacts with each other.

In Ranga Reddy district in Andhra Pradesh, the labour ministry-ILO project is targeting 270 brick kilns. So far, about 450 employers have been registered and they have provided the names of their workers, says Tina Staermose, country head of ILO India. In Odisha, 3,000 workers have been registered. All these workers get coupons that provide them rice at Rs 4/kg, besides oil and pulses at subsidised rates. Through the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, these workers have been provided insurance smart cards to ensure they have access to free health care in any state.

Also, the Andhra Pradesh housing scheme has been extended to these migrant workers, ensuring they enjoy the same rights they would have had in their home states. The National Human Rights Commission has sent a project document on this initiative to Maharashtra and Gujarat, both hosts to millions of migrants.

Under the pacts signed between Uttar Pradesh and the other three states, the governments and the employers registered have agreed to keep a record of the wages paid to each worker at kilns, as well as the piece rates. Owing to this, employers aren't short-changed by agents who might otherwise receive Rs 50,000 and pass on just half the amount to worker, says Bharti Birla, national project manager for the ILO project.

A pilot for the project was launched across 30 kilns in Tamil Nadu a decade ago. Subsequently, the Centre decided to turn it into a state-centric project, using state and district resources. As kilns come under the mining ministry, an inter-ministerial task force was formed to look at the bonded labour Act. Today, the labour ministry is seeking participation from more states to ensure migrants have their rights intact wherever they go, says Labour Secretary Mrutyunjay Sarangi. He adds gradually, workers from other sectors might also be included.