All-India Survey of Migrant Workers

• Government of India launched the All-India Survey of Migrant Workers and All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey.
• Labour and Employment Ministry said, the objective of the All-India Survey of Migrant Workers is to study the kind of employment-related migration undertaken by workers.
• The survey will provide the details of working and living conditions faced by Migrant Workers and impact of COVID 19 on their world of work.
• All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey
• All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey will provide the employment estimates for establishments employing ten or more workers as well as those with employing nine or less workers.
• The survey will provide crucial data on the changes in employment situation across the selected sectors on a quarterly basis.
• These surveys will plug-in the data gap on various aspects of labour and employment and will aide evidence-based policy making processes.

Background:

• The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, required all establishments who hired inter-state migrants to be registered, as well as all contractors who recruited these workers to be licensed.
• Proper implementation of this law would have ensured information on inter-state migrants to aid the state machinery in its relief efforts.
• However, no such detailed records were maintained, and information on the number of migrants was unavailable to both central and state governments.
• A comprehensive database for migrant and other unorganised sector workers is seen as necessary in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recent Government Initiatives :

• The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched ‘AtmaNirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM)’ portal to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities.
• Database of labour migrants in Indian states and overseas citizens, who returned to India under the Vande Bharat Mission and filled SWADES Skill Card, has been integrated with the ASEEM portal.
• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has developed an online dashboard called ‘National Migrant Information System (NMIS)’
• The online portal (NMIS) would maintain a central repository of migrant workers and help in speedy inter-state communication to facilitate the smooth movement of migrant workers to their native places.
• The Maharashtra Government has launched a portal named ‘Mahajobs’ for job seekers and employers, owing to the economic situation caused by Covid-19 pandemic.

Patterns of Migration:

• Rural-rural, rural-urban, urban-rural and urban-urban.
• Intra-state, and inter-state.

As of 2011, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were the largest source of inter-state migrants while Maharashtra and Delhi were the largest receiver states. Around 83 lakh residents of Uttar Pradesh and 63 lakh residents of Bihar had moved either temporarily or permanently to other states.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES