Both lead an impoverished life. But the latter segment has to suffer the worst form of exploitation at the hands of contractors and employers, and remain completely defenceless notwithstanding the existing law related to the inter-state migrant workers that seeks to provide them some safety.

An idea of the dimension of the country's migrant labour can be had from the Census 2001. As per the Census, 314.54 million people moved for various reasons within the country. Out of these, 29.90 million migrated for reasons of employment. It is also an acknowledged fact that the most important feature of the post-Independence labour market scenario has been the accelerated movement of people mainly from the rural and backward areas in search of livelihood.

A study by the Labour Ministry on the inter-state migrant labour system has noted that this is an “exploitative system prevalent in many states of the Union.” Such migrant labour is recruited from various parts of a particular state through contractors or agents for work outside that state in large construction and other projects. “The system lends itself to various abuses,” admits the study and adds that once the worker comes under the clutches of the contractor or the agent, he is taken to far-off places on payment of railway fare only. Generally, no working hours were fixed for these workers. And they are made to work throughout the week under extremely harsh conditions. Existing labour law provisions were not observed, and low wages were paid, flouting the Minimum Wage Act, 1948, the study said.

In this context, the Inter-State Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of service) Act, 1979 was intended to provide some relief and safeguards to the inter-state migrant workers. According to the law, all principal employers/contractors employing contract labour have to get themselves registered; no contractor can recruit migrant labour without getting licence from appropriate government; the employer has to issue a passbook with a passport-size photograph of the contract worker, also indicating the name and place of the establishment where the worker is employed, along with the period of employment and rates of wages; the migrant workers are to be paid minimum wages fixed under the Minimum Wages Act, journey allowance and wages during the journey and even displacement allowance if it so happens. The employer/contractor is required to provide to the migrant labour suitable residential accommodation, medical facilities free of charge as well as protective clothing.

If the establishment or project is under the Central sphere, then Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) is the law-enforcement authority; and if the establishment is under the state sphere, then the responsibility for enforcement of law lies with the respective State Governments in which the migrant workers are working and from where they have been recruited. According to Union Labour Ministry, in the Central sphere, a total of 48 principal employers are registered in Ahmedabad (3), Ajmer (12), Bangalore (19), Chennai (3), Kolkata (1), Mumbai (6), Nagpur (2) and Patna (2). Likewise, 51 contractors were issued licences involving 16,849 migrant workmen. And 35 prosecutions were launched fore violation of the Act.

The question is: Are only these many migrant workers employed in the Central establishments or projects in various states? It obviously is a gross under-statement. There are reasons for it, which are available from the Labour Ministry's survey itself. One of the reasons is said to be the reluctance of migrant workmen to speak about their miserable living and working conditions. This is understandable because they are afraid of the employers/his agents. The reason: they are far away from their homes, have little else to fall back upon while their families are with them at the work place; besides, they have little confidence in the local enforcement machinery. Moreover, migrant workers are illiterate, unaware of the rules and regulations governing their service conditions. There is hardly any union to stand by them if they are punished for no fault of theirs at work.

It may be noted that the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act does not take into account hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who are compelled to leave their rural houses due to impoverishment, natural calamities, artisans becoming jobless due to the inroad of modern technology and so on. Government's social security schemes are more notional than real.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has the potential for developing the socio-economic life in the rural areas and for reducing the exodus to urban areas. But the Central and state governments have been casual about its implementation. It has now been admitted at the highest level that without inclusive governance, there cannot be inclusive growth, which means that the Panchayati Raj institutions have to be actively involved in effective implementation of schemes like NREGA. This still remains a far cry.

The fate of the 30 million migrant workmen can only be surmised. Away from home, they lose their legal identity, lose right to enjoy even available facilities like getting rations; they have to pay for having a living space in shanties or JJ colonies in towns and metropolitan cities; children remain illiterate and so on. If and when schemes like NREGA are extended to urban areas, they may get some relief, corruption in such matters notwithstanding. (IPA Service)