-The Indian Express Cash is easy to carry and widely accepted. But, our analysis of nationally representative survey data, described below, suggests that these transfers will exclude many of India’s poorest and, for others, come too late. The vast majority of India’s poor rely on daily wage labour for sustenance. With the current lockdown and its likely extension, millions of daily labourers and their families can no longer earn the money they...
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Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, must be rationalised to remove requirements that disincentivise formalisation -KP Krishnan, Anirudh Burman & Suyash Rai
-The Indian Express The Act was enacted to prevent the exploitation of inter-state migrant workmen by contractors, and to ensure fair and decent conditions of employment. The fallout of the lockdown in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 highlights the urgent need to rationalise the legislative framework for labour in India. Migrant Labour has been among the worst affected due to the lockdown. Their efforts to leave the cities before the...
More »COVID-19: Odisha Workers Stranded Because They Don’t Have Aadhaar -Rakhi Ghosh
-TheWire.in Migrant workers from Odisha tell The Wire they remain stranded because they don’t have Aadhar ID. Ironically, they missed out on Aadhar enrolment because they were away from their villages for work Bhubaneswar: Migrant workers hailing from Odisha, stranded in different parts of India since the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus began on March 25, 2020, were relieved when the state government announced plans for their...
More »SC: Centre Refuses to Disclose Details of Train Fares Charged From Migrant Workers
-TheWire.in The government's secrecy around the issue assumes significance amidst a political row between the opposition parties and the Centre. New Delhi: In what appears to be a confirmation of the fact that the Centre was indeed making the home bound Migrant Labourers pay for their train journeys, the government on May 5 declined to share details of the ticket fares with the Supreme Court. During a hearing of social activist Jagdeep S....
More »The indispensability of labour in reviving India’s economic engine -Maitreesh Ghatak
-Hindustan Times To enable their return to cities, improve wages, living conditions, safety net. Coercion won’t work Migrant workers are like nowhere people. Yet, they are everywhere. From high-rises to highways, who builds them? It is a silent army of migrant workers, working day and night with no job security, no social safety net, and poor living conditions — yet, theirs are not the names we see on the billboards or the...
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