Migrant workers' welfare in smaller enterprises continues to be overlooked

The government's efforts to help India's 111 million informal workers in medium and small industries have fallen short

Mumbai: Little has changed for informal, migrant workers who work in the country's medium and small industries (MSMEs), and were one of the worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of government support for smaller enterprises and informal workers during the pandemic.   

The government's attempt to register informal workers, to make it easier for them to access benefits, has only been partially successful, while programmes for migrant workers in the state they come from were only pilots and did not help migrant workers long term, our analysis showed. In addition, criteria for relief packages for