This report was published in The Hindu on 01/07/2015
Of the 3.5 lakh migrant labourers employed in Ernakulam, only 8,413 have been registered with the welfare board.
fforts by the Department of Labour to impart a semblance of order to the largely unchartered world of migrant labourers in the State has fallen flat, and a vast majority of them continue to be out of the government radar and vulnerable to exploitation.
Only 8,413 migrant labourers in Ernakulam district were registered with the Kerala Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board till the end of May this year, Board sources said on Wednesday. By a rough estimate, between 3.5 and 4 lakh people from other States are employed in Ernakulam in industries ranging from construction to river sand mining.
“Ernakulam, among districts in the State, has the largest concentration of inter-State migrants and the number for registered workers is the highest among the districts,” Board sources said, pointing out that the registration efforts had more or less failed. “We are in the dark about what is to be done,” said a senior Labour Department functionary. “Workers are not willing to come forward voluntarily to register and Board officials now visit work sites to register them. Often they are gone from the site when a project is completed,” he said.
Minister for Labour Shibu Baby John acknowledged that the registration process, launched on May Day 2010, had failed to yield the desired results. The registration was aimed at providing a social security net for the workers. “It is not possible to make the registration compulsory or to compel the workers to register as according to the Constitution, an Indian is allowed to move and work anywhere within the country,” he added.
“Migrant labourers continue to live in poor conditions. Limitations in portability of entitlements prevent them from even enjoying their Union government entitlements. And, even though migrants are from within the country, the host States are unable to protect them as they protect their own workers. This is an all-India phenomenon,” said N. Ajith Kumar, director of the city-based Centre for Socio-Economic and Environmental Studies. Work rules are violated and the migrant labourers are unaware of their rights.
“Work rule violations are found mostly in the manufacturing sector,” said Martin Patrick, researcher with Kochi-based Centre for Public Policy Research. He also pointed out that there was discrimination in wages at work sites, with local workers commanding higher wages than their migrant counterparts.