India’s Government Focuses on Internal Migrants, At Last
A new policy framework is the first attempt to systematically address the many issues that plague India’s internal migrant workers.
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March 06, 2021
A group of daily wage laborers walk to return to their villages as the city comes under lockdown in Prayagraj, India, Monday, March 30, 2020.
Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh
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As India imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns a year ago, ordering 1.34 billion people to stay at home for months, thousands of migrant workers scrambled to return to their native villages. Walking along highways or railway tracks, or packed like cattle into trucks and vans, their images on TV and in newspapers shook the nation’s collective conscience.
Indus Action releases the third edition (since 2018) of The Bright Spots report this year
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Indus Action releases the third edition
New Delhi [India], March 4 (ANI/Connect360 PR): In the midst of uncertain times, with the future outlook of social protection raising many questions, Indus Action releases it s third annual The Bright Spots Report 2020. In addition to the data and insights, this year s report provides a special focus on entitled social protection for the vulnerable groups in India, through the lens of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
In the three years since the launch of our inaugural Bright Spots Report, the year 2020 has caused not only the largest health crisis of the 21st century but has delivered a heavy blow to the socio-economic status of society, employment rates and various other poverty alleviation programmes whose future remain uncertain.
Precarious Transitions: Mobility and Citizenship in a Rising Power
Over the summer of 2020, millions of migrants streamed out of Indian cities in the wake of the ill-planned lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 March 2020. The most conservative estimates suggest 30 million internal migrants in India (Ministry of Finance, Government of India 2018: 267). More realistic estimates peg the numbers at 140 million (Rajan et al 2020). If even half the most conservative figures are trekking back home, we are likely to be witness to the forced migration of at least 15 million people criss-crossing the country to get back to their homes. These numbers most likely dwarf the migrations wrought by the partition, estimated between 10 and 12 million people. At a time, millions have been cut adrift by the Indian state, we need to urgently reflect on what it means to be a citizen.
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Stung By COVID-19, Indian Businesses Rethink Worker Benefits
More than 90% of India s 450-million strong workforce are informal, recruited through tiers of labour contractors with low wages and no social security benefits such as health insurance or pensions.
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As Kerala s industrial heartland cranks back to life post-lockdown, orders are returning to its printing presses, workshops and chemical plants. But to bosses dismay, many workers are in no hurry to come back from their villages. There is a strong reluctance among the workers to return, said Rajesh Gopalakrishnan, head of an industry association representing 200 small businesses in the southern state.
Stung by COVID-19, Indian businesses rethink worker benefits
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Last Updated: Feb 19, 2021, 11:38 AM IST
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Synopsis
Almost a quarter of the informal workers are migrants who typically travel from their villages to bigger cities in distant parts of the country to work at brick kilns, garment factories, in hospitality or at construction sites.
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Money, rather than a job contract and employer social security contributions, is still the biggest draw for most Indian workers.
MUMBAI: As Kerala s industrial heartland cranks back to life post-lockdown, orders are returning to its printing presses, workshops and chemical plants. But to bosses dismay, many workers are in no hurry to come back from their villages.