No help from govt or employers, migrant workers left in the lurch

Despite the government’s directives to employers to not cut wages of workers during the lockdown, nearly 89 per cent of the migrant workers surveyed across the country have not been paid.

According to the Stranded Workers Action Network (Swan), a group of researchers from Azim Premji University and Libtech India, who tracked migrant workers between March 27 and April 13, 96 per cent of the stranded migrants have not yet received free ration as promised by the government.

With no cash, migrant workers have been pushed to the brink of starvation and the situation is likely to worsen in the next 3 weeks with the lockdown extension.

Swan’s 73 member team has spoken over the phone with 11,159 migrant workers, the report of which was published on April 15 and said 65 per cent of those surveyed are from Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and are stranded in Maharashtra, Delhi, and Karnataka.

On March 29, the Centre issued an order under section 10(2)(1) of the National Disaster Management Act, 2004, directing states and union territories to issue orders asking employers to pay wages to their workers on the due date without any deduction during the lockdown.

However, those orders seem to have not been implemented in reality.

As per the census 2011, nearly 45 crore people had migrated from one state to another for work.

In the report, one of the affected family said, while they worked for HINDALCO plant in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, and were given 5 kg of wheat by a local organisation, they had no cash for grinding the wheat to make it into flour or to buy other essentials like salt and oil.

Related news: Assamese migrant workers walk 62 km, stopped and sent to relief camp

In another case, ₹800 transferred as a relief to one of the workers, was completely deducted by the Union bank of Ludhiana branch, as the person had lower than the minimum balance needed for the account to function.

It was because the worker had withdrawn all his money to fend his life during this crisis period.

However, after a Tweet by one of the volunteers, the charges seem to be reversed and the relief money was given.

Adding to the issues, the majority of stranded workers do not recall the name of the main builder or company they have been working for, with the contractor being their only link to the city or town where they are working.

And now, according to Swan report, most contractors have switched off their phones, leaving workers to fend for themselves.

The construction sector is estimated to contribute to around 9 per cent of India’s GDP employing 55 million daily-wage workers. Every year around nine million workers move from rural areas to urban cities in search of work within construction sites and factories, according to a research report by Jan Sahas.

The report also noted, there have been at least 195 documented lockdown related deaths including suicides, death during the journey back home, hunger, alcohol withdrawal and police brutality.“What the lockdown has revealed is the absence of administrative oversight on the contract labour and lack of accountability of both the employers and the governments,” it said.

Considering the hardship migrant workers are going through, the Swan members suggested that the government should give emergency cash relief of ₹7,000 for 2 months without biometric authentication and supply clean drinking water free of cost in all colonies where there is no piped water supply.

Related news: Amartya Sen, Abhijit Banerjee, Raghuram Rajan talk on lockdown effect

They also suggested setting up of temporary shelters in stadiums and army cantonment areas with enough space for stranded migrants to stay.

Minimum wages for 25 days for two months should be released into the Jan Dhan accounts of these labourers, the report suggested.