Food Security Act of 2013 has no value for them which provides for highly subsidized or free rations, and even PM Modi’s free ration to 80 crore poor people was found to be meaningless for these 80 million migrant workers, since due to lack of documents free or subsidized foodgrains were not reaching to these migrant workers. Supreme Court of India taken note of the miseries of the migrant workers and ordered that the Union and the State governments must provide them ration cards within two months. Alas! They cant’s get the ration card due in the name of election, since officials are busy with it.

The neglect and apathy towards migrant labour continues despite PM Narendra Modi’s assurance of work with dignity to all hands during the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Unemployment continued rising in his regime to become 45 years high in 2017-18 to 6.1 per cent. Migrant workers have been suffering ever since the Demonetization on November 8, 2016, when millions of them lost their jobs due to closure of millions of MSMEs depending on cash flow, while millions of enterprises reduced their operation to about 75 per cent. Joblessness among them reached to unprecedented level, which paved the way for their exploitation since they were compelled to accept very low exploitative wages to quench their hunger. Informality rose, both in the formal sector, due to anti-labour Modi government policy which allowed contract and outsourcing even for the jobs of permanent nature.

The reality of their suffering remained concealed from public gaze until March 2022 lock down, when millions of migrant workers resorted to reverse exodus from town to their villages, on foot, without food, without water, and little prospect of getting them in their journey due to lockdown, with their women and children, and hundreds of them just perished. When compensation was demanded, Modi government told the parliament that they didn’t know about such deaths, while media was full of such news.

When the COVID-19 receded in 2022, Modi government finally assured the Supreme Court of India, and the nation that migrant workers would be provided with at least ration cards so that they may get at least subsidized foodgrains. It is the height of neglect and apathy that Supreme Court was informed that 80 million of them has still not the eKYC document and hence they were not being given ration cards, resulting in denial of access to the free and subsidized foodgrains they are entitled under Food Subsidy Act 2013, and even under the scheme of providing free foodgrains to 80 crore people which was announced during COVID-19 crisis of 2020. During the state elections of November 2023, PM Modi had announced that the scheme would be extended for five years from December 31, 2023, the date when the scheme was to expire. It has been ultimately extended, and we can just hope that after the Supreme Court order, migrant workers would get their ration cards.

It is worth noting that under the Supreme Court order, Modi government had to speed up registration of migrant workers on e-Sharm portal which was launched in 2021, but it is unfortunate that even all the registered migrant workers were not given ration cards. Issues of non-registration of many migrant workers still continues, and millions of migrant workers are not registered for several reasons including lack of eKYC documents.

This is only one of the examples of countless miseries migrant workers are facing in India, while Modi government goes on increasing their difficulties. For example, let us take implementation of CAA, in Assam that has impacted the fate for migrant workers, especially Bengali speaking migrant workers who are suspected everywhere in the country, as if they are illegal migrant from Bangladesh. A report from Pune has documented the predicaments of Bengali speaking migrant workers for getting all their documents corrected for even minor mistakes found in Aadhaar Card of Voter ID etc. Moreover, if the migrant worker is a Muslim, then there are more difficulties in his way.

Migrant workers are even struggling to be counted as voters, and due to lack of jobs they can’t return home to exercise their franchise in their home villages and towns. Employers generally don’t allow their absence for days, and then voting involve huge expenditure for them that they can’t afford due to their low wages. Price rise have been proportionately very high than their real wages which have considerably declined.

Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2022-23 has revealed on CWS basis that 62 per cent of workers population was not in work. Workers in informal sector. Wage related abuses has increased for migrant workers which has even be noted by ILO. India Employment Report 2024 by ILO-IHD has said that 90 per cent of the workers somehow managed to find job are informally employed, and 82 per cent of them are informal sector. Only as little as 21.5 per cent workers have regular employment. Predicaments of migrant workers have just become unimaginably worse under PM Narendra Mod’s rule of a decade by now.

The latest unemployment data by CMIE shows that unemployment rate in urban areas in March 2024, was as high as 7.8 per cent. In rural areas unemployment rate was only a little better at 7.4 per cent. It means that there are little work opportunities in the rural areas even in low wage jobs. For MGNREGA, Modi government have increased the minimum wage only a little in the range of 3-10 per cent ahead of general election. Minimum wage is Rs221 the lowest in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Migration of workers from rural areas to urban areas can therefore understandable, but unfortunately, unemployment rate in urban areas is even higher, which results in low wages, insecure jobs, and higher exploitation of the migrant workers. Migrant workers need immediate increased attention from Modi government. We must note that SDG-8.8 to be met by 2030, says to protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, women migrants, and those in precarious employment. Migrant Welfare and protection must therefore be central to labour policy. (IPA Service)