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A NITI Aayog policy draft has proposed the contours of a national policy on migrant workers

Key recommendation

• The draft asks source states to raise minimum wages to “bring major shift in local livelihood of tribal (that) may result in stemming migration to some extent”.
• The absence of community building organisations (CBO) and administrative staff in the source states has hindered access to development programmes, pushing tribals towards migration, the draft says.
• The “long term plan” for CBOs and panchayats should be to “alleviate distress migration policy initiatives” by aiming “for a more pro-poor development strategy in the sending areas that can strengthen the livelihood base in these areas”.

Issues with existing law

• The 2017 report argued that specific protection legislation for migrant workers was unnecessary
• “(Migrant workers) should be integrated with all worker as part of an overarching framework that covers regular and contractual work
  
• The report discussed the limitations of The Inter State Migrant Workers Act, 1979, which was designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors by safeguarding their right to non-discriminatory wages, travel and displacement allowances, and suitable working conditions.
  
• This law — which was modeled on a 1975 Odisha law — covered only labourers migrating through a contractor, and left out independent migrants.
• The 2017 report questioned this approach, given the size of the country’s unorganised sector.
• It called for a comprehensive law for these workers, which would form the legal basis for an architecture of social protection.
• This was in line with the recommendations of a 2007 report by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Source: Indian Express