COVID-19 Crisis: Centre Govt to strengthen Legal Framework to help Migrant Labourers

The Union Government is considering registration of all migrant workers in a centralised scheme to enable them and their families the benefits of social security schemes, as applicable under the Employees' State Insurance Corporation.

A new updated code on social security, prepared by the labour ministry, is waiting the approval of the Union cabinet. 

Said Union Minister for Labour Santosh Gangwar to THE WEEK, "The plight of migrants is a cause for concern. Like you, it is worrying us as well. But, you need to realise that we are doing everything we can to help them.” 

The government, he said, is bringing an updated law for migrant labourers, which will take into account all their needs. “The legal framework for the same will be strengthened. The provisions have been already cleared by the standing committee of Parliament," said Gangwar. A group of ministers, led by Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot, has recommended a series of measures to encourage migrant workers, who have returned to their native villages, to come back to the cities and resume work.”

The new provisions had to be brought in as the government felt the current legal framework—Inter State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979—was not enough, as it doesn't help the individual migrants and their families in a comprehensive way. The new law, once it comes into place, will help workers enjoy benefit of portability across the country and, like in organised sectors, they will get social security and health benefits. 

"All fund will be managed by the labour ministry and we will address all requirements of migrants. You will come to know about the nitty-gritty of it soon. The new law will come into being this year itself. Migrants will not have to suffer like this for long. Our government will always be with them," said Gangwar. 

In 2008, the Manmohan Singh-led UPA I had passed the Unorganised Sector Workers’ Social Security Act, which was meant to create a database of unorganised workers. Apparently, the law had some inherent flaws that created hurdles in its implementation. 

The bill should have been passed then after correcting the flaws, said former Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily.

“In fact I only drafted that law in 2008. The migrant crisis today involves various agencies. So an appropriate legislation, or an ordinance by the Centre, is required. Both the states that are sending the migrants, and the states that are receiving them, are acting as if they have no stake in the welfare of migrants. All concerns of the migrants should be addressed by the Centre at the earliest,” Moily told THE WEEK.

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