Context: The COVID-19 crisis has, for the first time, brought migration to the centre stage of public health and disaster response in India.
Migrants have drawn sharp attention in debates over public health and political economy for five reasons:
First: the numbers involved are very high.

• An estimate based on NSSO 64th Round and Census 2011 data suggest that there are approximately 2 million daily wage workers.
• The months of February and March are a lean season for rural-to-rural migration, yet the current figure of inter-State seasonal migrants stands at about 1.4 million.
• Further, in Delhi , where, 20% of Bihari migrants are working (0.28 to 0.3 million seasonal migrants) and even if half of them try to return home during a crisis, facilitating their journey can be a logistical improbability.

Second: India’s economy depends on the services of migrant workers.

• Sectors such as construction, garment manufacturing, mining, and agriculture would come to a standstill without them.
• One of the biggest challenges after the lockdown is lifted will be to bring back the migrants to kickstart these sectors.

Third: return migrants have no compensatory sources of livelihood.

• The poor States may find it difficult to sustain themselves without the remittances.
• This will not only cause demand side setbacks but also impact nutrition, health, education and the well-being of the older population.

Fourth, in the case of epidemics, the exodus of seasonal migrants creates apprehensions about the spread of the disease.

• Working from home or getting paid leave is largely a middle-class luxury. Daily-wage earners do not have the capacity to stay at a destination without work.
• Their families back home depend on their daily savings. A considerable number of workers live within the manufacturing units or at work sites. Any lockdown results in loss of their accommodation too.

Fifth, the pathetic working/living conditions of migrants defy the very idea of decent work and general security.

• Slums and slum-like colonies are breeding grounds of ailments and communicable diseases.
• People living in these areas simply cannot practise social distancing. Lack of sanitation, hygiene, safe drinking water, health services, social security measures, and affordable housing have resulted in a low quality of life.

Suggestions

• Repealing of the ISMW Act, 1979 and replacing it with a new Act, or by enlarging the scope of Unorganised Workers’ Social Security (UWSS) Act, 2008 to include legal entitlements, to define the migrant workman as a subset, to provide for contingencies of livelihood loss and to make the Act legally enforceable.
• Universalisation of registration and issuance of Aadhaar-based Unique Worker’s Identification Number (UWIN).
• Schemes like MGNREGA, Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) and Ujjwala need to be made portable and extensive.
• Geofencing of different benefits enabling a migrant worker to choose location-wise benefits.
• Preparing a comprehensive database of the migrant workers’ source and destination, demography, employment patterns and skill sets.
• It will help in skill development, providing social security benefits, planning for mass transit of migrant labour and preparing for any contingency plan in emergency situations.
• Empowering the Inter-State Council, set up under Article 263 of the Constitution to effectively and comprehensively deal with larger issues related to migrant workers.
• Migrant worker issues have complex Centre-State and inter-State dimensions.

Steps Taken by Government

• The UWSS Act, 2008: It provides for social security and welfare of unorganised workers.
• The UWSS Act defines unorganised workers as home-based worker, self-employed worker or wage worker in the unorganised sector.

It has two features:

• Registration of unorganised workers.
• Portable smart I-card with a UWIN.
• Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojana: To ensure old age protection for unorganised workers.
• Atal Pension Yojana: It is a social security scheme launched under the National Pension System (NPS) and aims at providing a steady stream of income after the age of 60 to all citizens of India including the migrants and labourers.
• Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (under the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan): Both of the schemes provide for life insurance and accident insurance respectively to the migrants and labourers.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (Ayushman Bharat): It aims at providing health cover to protect the migrants among others against the financial risk arising out of catastrophic health episodes.