research study on migrant construction workers in india

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India’s migrant construction workers: An analysis of their welfare framework

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had widespread and devastating consequences to communities and enterprises in India and across the globe. However, the situation was particularly grim for the 453.6 million internal migrants in India, evidenced by the unprecedented ‘reverse migration’ witnessed during the pandemic. 

Their vulnerabilities were exacerbated by the fact a large section of the working-age migrant population in India finds employment in the informal economy, which denied them any access to social security benefits upon stoppage of work due to lockdown. 

The spatial distribution of economic growth and prosperity in India in the past two-and-a-half decades has been agglomerated in-and-around pre-existing centres of growth. This has accentuated the pre-existing disparities in terms of economic growth, prosperity and livelihood opportunities between the cities and the resource-poor regions of this country. 

As a result, the country has seen a stupendous rise of the construction industry, particularly in the major metropolitan centres. The contribution of the construction sector to the real growth rate of the gross value added at basic prices reached 6.8 per cent during 2016-2019.

Construction, which was one of the worst-hit sectors during the pandemic, is also one of the key sectors in which India’s migrant workforce find employment. The NSSO (2016-17) puts the number of construction workers in the country at over 74 million. 

Interstate migrant workers make 35.4 per cent of all the construction workers in the country’s urban areas, according to the 2001 Census. Of all the interstate migrants in India who move out of the farm sector, construction absorbs around 9.8 per cent, making it the second most preferred sector for migrant workers after retail. 

Furthermore, 26 per cent of all households with migrant workers employed in the construction sector have a minimum of three members with at least two working adults of different genders, indicative of nuclear families with children, who can be viewed as associational migrants in construction. 

The Jan Sahas Survey conducted at the beginning of the lockdown (March 27-29, 2020), found that 54 per cent of construction workers support three to five people, while 32 per cent support more than five people.

Legal safeguards

The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act and the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act were constituted in 1996, to address the issues faced by the construction workers.  

These legislatures mandated the institution of a Construction Workers Welfare Board (CWWB) — a tripartite entity with equal representation from workers, employers and the government. The CWWB is required to register all construction workers in the state and promote the welfare of registered construction workers through various schemes, measures or facilities. 

Indicative welfare benefits are listed out in Section 22 of the Act and include medical assistance, maternity benefits, accident cover, pension, educational assistance for children of workers, assistance to family members in case of death, group insurance, loans, funeral assistance and marriage assistance for children of workers. 

For the purpose of raising capital for providing the welfare benefits under state CWWBs, collection of a cess at the rate of 1 per cent of the total cost of construction is mandated by the said legislations. 

Shortcomings in implementation

There are some prominent shortcomings in implementation, especially with regards to registration of workers and the collection and distribution of the Cess. The number of active / valid registrations vis-a-vis the total number of construction workers registered in the state CWWBs, is a major issue.

State-wise number of construction & registered workers

The state-wise scenario of construction workers from 2017-2019 can be seen above. It shows that there are approximately 55 million construction workers and based on the estimation, there would be about 20 million construction workers who would be unable to avail the benefits given out by the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. 

This can be attributed to the fact that the registration rates are not very high, the estimates show that only 52.5 per cent of all construction workers were registered in 2017. Rates of registration are extremely low in Assam and Bihar (< 20 per cent); in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, it is lower than the national average. 

However, states like Delhi and Chhattisgarh reported a registration rate of more than 100 per cent, indicating the possibility of duplicate and fraudulent registrations. 

Cess collected for and spent on construction workers

Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment (2019): “ Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 278 ”, Lok Sabha, New Delhi

Moreover, the collection of Cess for the BOCWWB at the rate of 1 per cent of the total cost of construction and its proper distribution among workers is a major issue due to the implementation problem. 

There is no proper mechanism for the collection of said Cess, its transfer to the concerned of BOCWWB, according to the assessment made by the 38th standing committee on labour of the Loksabha. 

The committee also reported an under-assessment of Cess. As of 2019, only 39 per cent of the collected Cess has been disbursed to the workers. 

Some of the states like Tamil Nadu (11.8 per cent), UP (10.5 per cent), West Bengal (9.8 per cent), Kerala (13.9 per cent), Bihar (9.5 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (8.3 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (8 per cent) together contribute more than 70 per cent in the total construction gross value added (GVA), but their contribution to the total Cess amounts to only 37 per cent. 

In 2019, Kerala and Bihar managed to collect only 3.9 per cent and 3.24 per cent of the Cess, respectively. On the other hand, Karnataka and Maharashtra, which contribute 6.9 per cent and 5.8 per cent in terms of the national GVA by the construction sector, collected 10 per cent and 15 per cent of the Cess, respectively. 

However, in spite of being the biggest collector of Cess, Maharashtra spends very little (5.4 per cent), while, Kerala (120 per cent), Karnataka (89 per cent), Chhattisgarh (84 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (54 per cent), Rajasthan (55 per cent), Odisha (77 per cent), Punjab (54 per cent) and West Bengal (45 per cent) are the states who spend more than the national average.

Additionally, almost all the migrant construction workers would not be able to avail the benefits of the relief measures offered by the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), as such benefits can only be availed by the formal workers registered as contributing members of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation. 

This represents only a small percentage of the total construction workers in India, as estimated by the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2018-2019. The construction sector employs 83 per cent casual and 11 per cent self-employed workers, according to the survey. 

Only 5.7 per cent of the workers work on a regular basis, of which 3.9 per cent are informal and only 1.6 per cent are regular formal workers. 

Overall, only 2.2 per cent of the total construction workers are availing some kind of social security benefits, and only 1.5 per cent are regular workers eligible for benefits from the EPF, which clearly manifests the vulnerable condition of the construction migrant workers and their futures.

There is an urgent need for the administration to intervene and ensure that the gap between Cess collected and money spent on welfare activities through CWWBs is reduced. The silver lining has been the intervention by the judiciary in a few cases. 

Recently, in July 2020, the Delhi High Court asked the Delhi government to see if registration of 10 workers with the BOCWW board can be verified online as the applications were made online.

The bench also said that there should be “no laxity” in registration of workers with the Board, through which they could get ex-gratia of Rs 5,000 during the pandemic. The state and the judiciary should step up and enable provision of benefits to all workers.

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Indian Construction Industry: Employment Conditions of Migrant Male Workers of Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal

• Research Note
• Published: 18 June 2021
• Volume 64 , pages 461–484, ( 2021 )

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• Sudipta Sarkar 1  

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The present study seeks to explore the employment conditions of migrant workers of rising construction industries in India. It considers a case study of male migrants who are moving from a backward region of West Bengal to different urban destinations of the country to work. The study conceptualizes the work systems which migrants are engaged in. It analyses whether the migrants experience a decent work life and further examines why men choose to work under precarious work systems like dadan .

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Source : NSSO 64th round 2007–08

Source : field survey, 2015

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That may range from permanent, seasonal and irregular to circulatory.

Thikadar is a local word for agent/broker in West Bengal.

Decent work as a concept and an agenda was used by the ILO for the first time in its 87th session of the International Labour Conference in 1999. ILO defines decent work as ‘opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity’ (Anker Richard et al. 2002 :1). Thus, it ‘sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives – their aspirations for opportunity and income; rights, voice and recognition; family stability and personal development and fairness and gender equality’ (Morris 2009 :7). It comprises four strategic objectives: employment and income opportunities; fundamental principles and rights at work and international labour standards; social protection and social security; and social dialogue and tripartism. Decent work has six dimensions (Table 12 ).

Kerala holds the topmost position, followed by Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal, etc.

Other than these three blocks, people in smaller numbers also migrate from Islampur sub-division to cities such as Raipur, Patna or Siliguri for different jobs. Some go to Raipur and Patna to work in plywood factories.

The term  dadan  is local and means money. Bandyopadhyay and Ramaswamy ( 1985 :439) describe that, under the dadan system, money ( dadan ) is advanced to a person in dire need – particularly during the lean agricultural period – on the condition that the recipient works off this amount over a specified period.

DMRC is Delhi Metro Railway Corporation.

Unable to mention their caste.

Scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) are the constitutionally categorized backward social groups of India.

Compared with the workers in other work systems.

In the study, there is no case of migrants under this system taken outside the country.

Harijan is a name given to the individuals of the backward social group, which includes scheduled caste people in India.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Prof. Saraswati Raju (Retd) and Prof. Deepak Kumar Mishra of Centre for the Study of Regional Development, JNU, for their feedback in this work. She is also grateful to the valuable suggestions given by the anonymous reviewers that helped to improve the paper.

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Sarkar, S. Indian Construction Industry: Employment Conditions of Migrant Male Workers of Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal. Ind. J. Labour Econ. 64 , 461–484 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-021-00310-4

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-021-00310-4

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Quality of life among migrant construction workers in Bangalore city: A cross-sectional study

Shaik zabeer.

1 Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Bangalore Baptist Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Leeberk R. Inbaraj

Carolin e. george, gift norman.

The construction industry is one of the oldest industries in India, which employs a large number of workers of poor socioeconomic status. Bangalore has seen significant rise in the number of migrants from various parts of the country to work in construction industry. These workers suffer from lack of good accommodation, basic sanitation, health facilities, stressful working conditions, and poor social life. Quality of life (QoL) among a population is an essential step to understand and improve health status, well-being, and mental health of the population.

Materials and Methods:

A cross-sectional study was done to assess QoL among migrant construction workers in Bangalore. We interviewed 400 workers using questionnaire containing sociodemographic profile and WHOQOLBREF scale. Factors associated with QoL were tested using independent “t” test and Chi-square test and P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

The mean age of the workers was 26.38 + /4.3 years and majority of them were men (95.2%). The smokers had higher mean score in psychological domain with a significant P value. Those who lived in huts had higher mean score (60.4+/9.71) in the social domain as compared with those who lived in pucca houses (59.7 + /12.5). Those who were married, worked as nonlaborers, lived in pucca houses, earned higher income had higher mean scores in the environmental domain compared with those who were unmarried, laborers, lived in huts, and earned lower income.

Conclusion:

Migrant construction workers had poor physical, social, and psychological QoL, whereas QoL in environmental domain is better compared with studies done across the country and it was significantly associated with higher income, education, better accommodation, and type of work. We recommend strategies to improve their physical, social and psychological well-being of this vulnerable population through strict legislations.

Introduction

Urbanization has become a common feature of Indian society. According to the 2011 Census of India, level of urbanization increased from 27.81% in 2001 to 31.16% in 2011.[ 1 ] Poverty and indebtedness are the most important factors that lead to migration. In India, there are significant inequalities in the development of the various states, with states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra having attained a higher level of development than Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.[ 2 ] Migrant laborers, who account for roughly one-third of India's population, work long hours, are paid low wages, and work in unsafe environments, besides the other ills of social isolation and poor access to basic services, such as education, water, sanitation, and health.[ 3 ] Migration because of trafficking or internal displacement because of political unrest also led to the disruption of healthcare delivery.[ 4 ]

The construction industry is one of the oldest industries in India, which employs a large number of workers of poor socioeconomic status.[ 5 , 6 ] There is an increasing demand for the construction workers in the city of Bangalore. This is because of the booming industrialization, housing, trade commerce, software industry, information technology, and manufacturing of computer peripherals. Major software industries are based in Bangalore.[ 7 ]

Thousands of construction workers live in roadside tents and temporary sheds placed among the city's skyscrapers. They stay either on construction site/basement or on roadside. The sheds do not have any ventilation and lack facilities of water, electricity, toilets, sanitation, and safety.[ 7 ] The workers often suffer from various diseases. The reasons for frequent illness are dirty water and surroundings, living places infested with flies and mosquitoes.[ 5 ] The children often suffer from malnutrition, cholera, cold and cough caused by inhaling paint fumes and cement/dust particles. In all the construction sites, children are found playing in work areas and are prone to small accidents in the site.[ 5 ] Although migrants constitute a key population at higher risk of acquiring Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or an STI, there is a lack of easily accessible sexual health services available for them.[ 7 ]

Studies across the globe and from India have reported the utilization of health services by the migrants is less compared with local urban population. This could be because of various factors such as inadequate health staffing and exclusion of migrant pockets in primary care and general practice. Financial insecurity and unpaid sick leave lead to poor access to healthcare despite high concentration of healthcare services in the cities.[ 8 , 9 , 10 ]

The concept of quality of life (QoL) is used to perceive well-being among various susceptible populations, such as migrants, refugees, etc.[ 11 , 12 , 13 ] The World Health Organization (WHO) defined QoL as ‘’individuals” perception of their position in life in the context of culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns. It is a broad ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person's physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, and their relationship to salient features of the environment’.[ 14 ] This concept emphasized the essentially subjective nature of QoL.[ 15 ] Previous empirical studies found that perceived QoL was a significant predictor of subsequent physical illness and psychological disorders.[ 16 , 17 ] Therefore, studying QoL among a population is an essential step to understand and improve health status, well-being, and mental health among various vulnerable populations, such as rural-to-urban migrants who moved for seeking jobs and a better life. The main objective of the current study was to study the QoL and associated factors for poor QoL a sample of migrant construction workers in Bangalore.

Materials and Methods

This study was conducted at a construction site at Nagawara, Bangalore, where healthcare is provided by the Department of Community Health and Family Medicine (CHD) at Bangalore Baptist Hospital. The department is the outreach arm of the hospital, dedicated to the service of the poor and marginalized in rural and urban areas of Bangalore. The medical team of CHD addresses the common health problems of construction workers and provides primary care through mobile clinic conducted every month. Interstate and intrastate migrant construction laborers including men and women aged more than 18 years who are working in this construction site for more than 1 year were included in the study. The study was conducted from April 2016 till May 2017. From a similar study done in China, mean overall QoL among men was 2.96 with standard deviation (SD) of 0.88.[ 18 ] Using the formulae 4 (SD) 2 /d 2 , with relative precision of 10%, sample size was calculated as 401. This construction site has approximately 1,200 employees and their shelters were visited consecutively after working hours and all those who were fulfilling the inclusion criteria and giving informed consent were included in the study. Recruitment continued till the desired sample size was achieved. A semistructured questionnaire which consists of basic demographic profile and QoL was assessed using standard questionnaire format of WHOQOLBREF scale.[ 19 ] This instrument contains four domains, namely, physical health (Domain 1), psychological health (Domain 2), social relationships (Domain 3), and environmental health (Domain 4) with a total of 26 questions. Each of these domains is rated on a 5point Likert scale. As per the WHO guidelines, 25 raw scores for each domain were calculated by adding values of single items, and it was then transformed to a score ranging from 0-100, where 100 is the highest and 0 is the lowest value. The mean score of each domain and total score were calculated. Voluntary participation was ensured and informed consent was taken in their mother tongue. This study was approved by Institutional Review Board of Bangalore Baptist Hospital.

Statistical analysis

The study participants were interviewed by the principal investigator at their work place and data was entered into Microsoft Excel 1997-2003. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistics Package for Social Scientists (SPSS; Windows version 16.0.). Descriptive analysis was done for all the variables. Domain scores was calculated individually and transformed score was derived from raw score. Significance of association between QoL (dependent variable) with the different independent variables was analyzed using independent “t” test and Chi-square test and P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

A total of 400 migrant workers were studied among which most of them were men (95.2%), and one-third were in the age group of 26-30 years (36.5%) [ Table 1 ]. The mean age was 26.38 + /4.3. Majority of them were unmarried (75%) and among those married very few lived with their spouses and children (1%). More than half of them (51.5%) did not have a formal education or they have completed only primary education. The majority of them (77.8%) earned less than Rs. 10,000 per month. More than one-third (41.5%) were laborers in the building construction and rest were masons and other semiskilled workers, and most of them lived in different types of huts (potla, 88.0%). Nearly half of them (41.8%) were current smokers, more than half of them (60.2%) were current alcohol consumers, and a one-third of them (36.5%) were current tobacco users.

Socio demographic characters of study population

The WHO QoL BREF instrument responses were analyzed. The mean total score of the QoL scale was 55.9 (SD-3.7) ranging from 42.3-67.3. The mean scores of various domains of QOL were 55.2 ± 8.36 (physical), 48.3 ± 9.45 (psychological), 60.3 ± 10 (social), and 57.6 ± 6.6 (environmental) [ Table 2 ].

Quality of life scores across the domain

The mean psychological domain scores were found to be significantly different ( P ≤ 0.05) among smokers (49.5 ± 9.51) and nonsmokers (47.4 ± 9.34) using independent samples ttest with a higher mean score among smokers [ Table 3 ]. Those who lived in huts had higher mean score (60.4 + /9.71) in the social domain as compared with those who lived in pucca houses (59.7 + /12.5). Those who were married (59.0 + /7.2), nonlaborers (59.1 + /7.01), lived in pucca houses (60.5 + /8.9) and had higher income (59.5 + /5.7) had higher mean scores in the environmental domain of QoL when compared with those who were unmarried (57.2 + /6.4), laborers (56.8 + /6.26), lived in huts (57.2 + /6.2), and had lower income (57.1 + /6.8), and these difference in mean scores were statistically significant ( P ≤ 0.05). We did not find any significant difference in the mean score among these demographic variables in physical domain of QoL.

Factors associated with environmental domain of QoL

The QoL scores were further converted into categorical variable by obtaining the mean score and dividing the group into those who got a score above the mean and those below the mean. They were labeled as good and poor QoL as shown in Table 4 . More than half of them (54%) had poor QoL. Almost two-third (60%) of the workers had poor QoL in social relationship domain and half (50%) in physical domain.

Distribution of QoL

Migrant workers who had lower education (56.4%), staying in huts (55.4%) had poor overall QoL when compared with those with higher education (39.7%) and staying in other type of shelters (43.8%) with significant P value [ Table 5 ].

Factors associated with overall QoL

In the developing countries, internal migration is a survival strategy for many laborers in search of better livelihood and opportunities. In our study group, majority of workers were between the age group of 26-30 years with mean of 26.3 (SD - 4.3 years). It has been observed in many studies across the country in Gujarat, Maharashtra in which the mean age of the construction workers ranged from 23-26.25 years.[ 20 , 21 ] A study done among migrant construction workers in Kolar, Karnataka had a similar observation with the mean age of 25.6 years.[ 22 ]

Our study population had majority of men and most of them were unmarried. A report from National Sample Survey in 2007-08 showed that labor migration is predominantly biased towards males in services and industrial sector.[ 23 ] This possibly explains the higher prevalence of HIV among migrant workers apart from high-risk population such as sex workers. National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) reported that the prevalence of HIV is 3.6% among migrant workers which is 10 times more than general population. This is probably because of multiple factors such as lack of family life and permanent partner, risky behavior, social and economic security, and involvement of peer-driven risk-taking activities.[ 24 ] It has been found that satisfaction with personal relationship followed by sexual activity were the strongest contributors of overall QoL in Canada.[ 25 ] As these are social domains of QoL, separation from family members among these men is possibly leading them to have poor QoL. It was found that the strongest contributors to the variance of overall QoL were satisfaction with personal relationships, followed by health status and sexual activity.

On the other hand, female migration has its own social issues. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported that women migrant laborers are paid lesser than their counter parts and did not have facilities for breastfeeding, access to proper sanitation. They also do not have benefits such as maternity leave and maternity entitlements. They suffer in silence because of the stigma around women's personal hygiene issues.[ 26 ]

We found that most of the workers had attended school (95.5%) but approximately half of the study population had lower level of education (50.5%) and illiterate (56%) and only 2.2% were able to read and write. The illiteracy rate is much higher as compared with other studies done in Maharashtra.[ 20 , 27 ] Low level of education which leads to unemployment is obviously one of the major reasons for migration. A similar observation was noted among agricultural migrants in Punjab. This study showed that because of illiteracy and lack of employment in the native place, people migrate to attain a better economic status in life. It was observed that low wages at the native place was the major economic factor that contributed to the migration of 94.3% migrants.[ 28 ] The highest proportion of the migrants were from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Jharkhand and Bihar. This finding was different from study done in Karnataka as well as Gujarat and Maharashtra in which most of the workers were migrants from Bihar and West Bengal in India.[ 20 , 21 , 22 ]

The prevalence of alcohol use was (60.8%) high among the study population. This is much higher than the observations from other studies which ranged from 45-50%. Similarly, tobacco use in chewable and smoking form was also observed to be high among our population.[ 20 , 21 , 22 , 27 ] Separation from family, lack of relationships, long working hours, and easy accessibility to liquor in Bangalore could be the possible reasons for high prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use among these population.

When compared with the domain scores of previous study done in similar population in Karnataka, our population had poor score in all the domains (physical, social, psychological) except environmental domain.[ 22 ] This is probably because of the initiatives of the construction firm which ensures them better health facility through the nearest tertiary care centre and offers other facilities at the work place. This may not reflect the scenario of other migrant workers in the city. Social domain includes satisfaction in relationships, sexual life, support from family and friends. It is clear that we observed poor score in this domain probably because of their loneliness and separation from family and friends. The workers have scored less in the physical domain which includes pain and discomfort, work capacity, sleep, and rest. Various studies have found that musculoskeletal problems constitute major proportion of their health issues.[ 29 , 30 ]

It was also observed that marital status, monthly income, type of work and shelter were significantly associated with environment domain of QoL. The possible reasons could be the perception that safety, better physical environment, opportunity for leisure activities, better living condition, access to health services and transport are easily available for those who are nonlaborers with reasonable good income. It is obvious that they also have better accommodation and their QoL is better than those who work as laborers.

We also found that smoking had an influence on psychological domain of QoL. It is an established fact that low QoL and depression are associated with higher odds of smoking initiation. There is a negative relationship between smoking and QoL and the magnitude of this association is related to the number of cigarettes smoked.[ 23 ] Even though we did not assess depression or psychological distress in our study, it is likely that this population would have higher prevalence of depression because of their separation from family, lack of relationships, and hardships they undergo at their work. There has been an evidence for significant negative correlation between QoL and psychological distress.[ 31 ] A study done among construction workers in Gujarat by Gaurav et al. found that 40.75 of the participants had high level of stress.[ 32 ] It has also been studied that poor psychological well-being can bring down the productivity of the work.[ 33 , 34 ]

One of the important values of family practice lies on reaching out to the vulnerable in the community. This population being migrant, they neither have the accessibility to state healthcare system nor access to health services by the employers. A recent study specifically examined the extent of the services provided by frontline health workers as experienced migrants in 13 Indian cities. It reported that a very small proportion of people had seen the visits of the health workers and experienced their services and only one-fifth of the migrant mothers and children received maternal and child health services from health workers.[ 35 ] Hence, all primary care providers should be sensitized towards not only the health issues of the migrants but also other determinants of health such as QoL. This should be addressed during every encounter by the family physicians.

Ours is a community-based cross-sectional study. There have been many studies from Bangalore which reported on various health issues but to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that has looked into QoL. We had a good rapport with the workers as we offer routine health services to this population and it was easier to share their perspectives during the interview.

We did not assess the mental health of the workers and did not explore their stress at work and productivity. These factors may have significant impact on QoL. We could have added some more independent factors in the study tool which may affect the QoL.

Migrant construction workers in Bangalore consist of mainly young adults and unmarried men. Prevalence of harmful tobacco and alcohol use higher than existing evidences are available in this population. They have poor physical, social, and psychological QoL, whereas QoL in environmental domain is better when compared with studies done in other parts of India, and it was significantly associated with higher income, education, those who lived in better accommodation and nonlabor category workers. Smoking was associated with psychological domain of QoL. We recommend strategies to improve their physical, social, and psychological well-being of this vulnerable population through strict legislations.

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In Kerala, a dependence on migrant workers Premium

In the context of the broader ramifications of karnataka’s local employment law, five state-level reports from the southern states — on the editorial and opinion pages — on labour conditions on the ground. while migrant workers are not welcomed with open arms, they are crucial for the state. even the local workforce does not support regionalism.

Updated - August 19, 2024 12:58 am IST

Published - August 19, 2024 12:48 am IST

Migrant workers in building a makeshift structure without proper safety measures at Kottamaidan in Palakkad. File image for representation. | Photo Credit: The Hindu

L egislation on the lines of the Karnataka State Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries, Factories and Other Establishments Bill, 2024, reserving jobs for locals in the private sector, is nearly impossible in Kerala and could prove to be counterproductive to the State’s interests. Given the stiff opposition to it, the Karnataka Bill has been suspended for the time being.

In Kerala, even manual labourers, who are highly likely to lose jobs to inter-State workers, despise the idea on moral, ethical, and legal grounds. “Regionalism flies in the face of the constitutional right guaranteed to every Indian to work anywhere in the country. How can Malayalis, who have travelled across the world in search of better prospects, oppose migration? Migrants have not encroached into our space,” says M.A. Mohanan, 57, a headload worker in Kakkanad, Ernakulam, and district committee member, Headload and General Workers Union.

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Treatment of migrant workers

However, migrant workers say they face hostility. Rajendar Naik, 40, migrated to Kerala when he was 15 and works in the plywood industry hub of Perumbavoor in rural Ernakulam. He says the local workforce can be hostile towards migrant workers. George Mathew, chairperson of the Progressive Workers’ Organisation, which works for the welfare of migrant workers, agrees: “Migrant workers are seen as an underclass by the local community. But any attempt to push them out will be met with resistance from the government — not because of an ethical stance but because their labour is linked to the profit-making capacity of corporates.”

A working group report by the Social Service Division of the Kerala State Planning Board noted in 2022 that the number of migrant workers, called ‘guest workers’ by the government, was 31 lakh in 2017-18. Of them, 21 lakh were temporary workers; the remaining stayed in the State for a longer period. It said, “Among the long-term migrants, about 5% live with their families in Kerala.”

In a Planning Board-sponsored study, ‘In-migration, Informal Employment and Urbanisation in Kerala’, in 2021, Jajati Keshari Parida and K. Ravi Raman said that migrants formed about 26.3% of the total workforce in Kerala. Considering that Kerala is an ageing society with two districts already registering negative population growth, and there is large-scale out-migration of youth from the State, there is a huge gap in the availability of people for unskilled and semi-skilled jobs.

“It is a strange situation. Even Keralites who return from abroad, where they were doing unskilled jobs, are unwilling to do the same in their State,” says Martin Patrick, a social scientist and expert in the field of unorganised labour force.

Minimum wages

In Kerala, migrant workers are guaranteed minimum wages, which are higher than what they would get in their home States. Kerala has also introduced health insurance schemes and limited paid hostel accommodation for migrant workers. In Ernakulam, a programme ensures the education of the wards of migrant workers.

R. Chandrasekharan, the State president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, however argues that nine minimum wage notifications across various sectors in the last seven years of the Left Democratic Front government have remained in limbo after various managements, which were party to the elaborate consultative process leading into the notifications, got them stayed by the court. “The State’s law officers have failed to convince the court about the double standards of the parties concerned in questioning the notifications after giving their consent during the consultation phase,” he says.

Benoy Peter, executive director of the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, says Kerala relies more on migrant workers than the migrant workers rely on Kerala. “So, if they turn elsewhere, the State will be staring at a crisis,” he says. Already, traditional and largely informal sectors such as construction, marine fishing, plywood, and hospitality are almost fully reliant on migrant workers.

“In fact, the Kerala government is not facing a situation where the migrant influx is threatening the jobs of the local workforce. Rather, there is an acute shortage of unskilled workers. On the other hand, reserving work in the private formal sectors poses the threat of flight of industries,” he says.

Mujeeb Rahman, a leading plywood manufacturer, says around 95% of workers in plywood factories are migrants. It is impossible to find a local workforce with the right skill sets to replace them, he says.

A dignified environment

Supriya Debnath, 30, who migrated to Perumbavoor from Kendrapara district in Odisha nine years ago, is now a link worker for the National Health Mission. She is troubled by the indifference of a section of the local populace towards migrant workers. “Being without work can be a nightmare for migrants as they hardly receive any help from their employers. This is especially in the case of seasonal industries such as brick kilns. Migrants are left without work during the rains,” she says.

Debnath wants the government to provide a dignified and hygienic living environment for these workers. Her concern assumes significance in the wake of a recent incident at Piravom along the eastern suburbs of Ernakulam district where a migrant worker was found living in a dog kennel for a monthly rent of ₹500.

Related Topics

Kerala / labour

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