Inclusive Welfare Policies and Inter-State Migrant Workers in Kerala: An Insight for India

Abstract:

Internal migration within India is a historical process that contributes to the country's developmental aspect. However, government policies have often neglected the rights of unorganised interstate migrants, with insufficient central and state-level schemes to protect these labourers. In contrast, the Kerala state government has adopted a distinctive welfare approach aimed at the socioeconomic development of informal migrant workers. This article examines the context of interstate migration in Kerala and explores the innovative welfare schemes implemented by the state government to address the needs of these labourers.

Interstate Migration to Kerala

Kerala has been at the forefront of India's demographic revolution as one of the most alluring destinations for migrant labourers from other regions. It has been considered one of the desirable regions for migrant labourers from the rest of the states (Peter et al, 2020). An estimated 31 lakh interstate migrant labourers are working in Kerala, which includes both long-term and short-term period migrants (Parida et al., 2021, p. 11). These interstate migrants have become an indispensable part of Kerala's overall economy. According to the Planning Board report, they have spent 10000 Crore rupees per year for living expense in the local market and send 7.5 billion rupees as remittance out of Kerala annually (2021). Most of them work in unorganised informal sectors such as construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and marine fishing.

In recent decades, a migration corridor between Kerala and other state regions have emerged. One of the major pulling factors of this migration is the promising wage rate. The state offers a higher wage rate in the informal labour market for unorganised sector workers than any other state in India (Reja et al., 2019). Further, the state has taken several measures to include migrant workers in their social security schemes and was able to effectively respond to the distress of migrant workers during the lockdown.

Kerala has a long history of migration, mainly from neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu, with a tremendous flow in the 1990s (Kumar, 2014). However, in the last two decades, the state has witnessed a massive flow of unskilled labourers from distant states in North, East, and North-East India, such as Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Uttar Pradesh (Parida et al., 2021). The increased demand for manual labourers coupled with high wage rates, regular availability of employment, and unemployment in the rest of the states coincided with a peak demographic dividend, resulted in the variation in the longest migration corridors. The pathway from Ganjam district in Odisha to Surat in Gujarat, a decades-old root of migrant labourers, has now shifted to Kerala (Peter et al., 2023). Recently, a trend emerged among 'Ganjam' people to move to Kerala, which is attributable to different pulling and pushing factors. The majority of these migrants are young and are from relatively underdeveloped states with a low rank in the Human Development Index and Gender Inequality Index. There are distinctions in terms of the social profile of the migrant labourers, the work they are engaged in, and the strength of inflow. Their presence has expanded to diverse occupational backgrounds such as construction, agriculture, casual labour, road work, domestic work, factories, and marine fishing. Unlike migration to other states, instead of moving to metropolitan cities, they are working in rural areas. Due to the 'urban' characteristics of Kerala, where even rural areas possess urban characteristics, migrants are not only employed in urban areas but also in rural areas (Parida et al, 2021).

Welfare Schemes for Interstate Migrant Workers

By considering the contribution of interstate migrant workers to Kerala's economy, the state government honoured them with a special identity as ‘guest labourers’ (Athithi Thozhilaikal). Despite the better employment opportunities and higher wage rates, most of these workers and families were forced to live in vulnerable conditions with less sanitation and drinking water. Government and civil society organisations were consciously worried about their unsanitary condition, which may result in endemic diseases like malaria and cholera. Research conducted by the Gulati Institute of Taxation and Finance for the state government reported the hazardous condition of unorganised sector migrant workers in 2013 (Parida et al., 2021). Later, the concern was raised in the Legislative Assembly in 2016, which led to the approval of the 'Awaaz Health Insurance Scheme' for Inter-state migrant workers, which is the first health Insurance scheme in India to be executed for ISM workers (Remya, 2021, p.170).

Kerala is the first state to implement social security schemes for inter-state migrant workers in India (Peter, 2020). The execution of inclusive policies began with the interstate migrant worker's welfare schemes in 2010 to promote the welfare of migrant workers. Under this scheme, a separate budget was allocated under the Kerala Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. Later, the government's concern for migrant workers was reflected more in the formation of the Working Group on Labor Migration under the 13th five-year plan deliberations. Some of the major departments came forward to take the initiative to execute inclusive policies. The state departments have already put much effort into the development of migrant workers. The Department of Education has been promoting inclusive education of migrant workers' children since 2008 under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. In the initial phase, they decided to appoint tutors who speak the mother tongue of the migrant workers in selected schools in regions where the migrant worker's children are concentrated.  Later, in 2017, under the State Literacy Mission, the government started a program to teach migrant workers Hindi and Malayalam language. Kudumbashree, a state subsidiary women-led organisation, collaborated with the initiative to bring women participants into the fold. In the same year, the Kerala government initiated a project known as the 'Apna Ghar Scheme' to provide affordable, safe, and hygienic rental accommodation for migrant workers, which was the first of its kind in the country (Remya, 2021, p.170). Additionally, as a part of the HIV prevention mission, the Department of Health and Family Welfare has introduced the Link Worker Scheme to reach out to high-risk groups and vulnerable young people in rural areas for STI/HIV prevention and risk reduction in 2020. Under this scheme, resourceful migrant workers were recruited and trained to provide health information and connect migrants to the services in their language, coordinating with other frontline workers in the department.

Complexities of Policy Implementation

Considering the objective and provisions of the schemes, the Kerala government's welfare policies are commendable and encouraging. However, some of the designs and strategies adapted for the welfare measures are not well planned, and grassroots requirements and executing mechanisms are not scrutinised adequately. Without well-planned and practical arrangements for implementing and monitoring the programs to ensure coordination within and between departments, these measures have ended up being more peripheral than complementary. As a result, the policy goals and significant investments have yet to produce the expected outcomes. This can be attributed to the many challenges faced by the government in proceeding with the schemes and programs for inter-state migrant labourers. The anonymity and data deficiency of workers and their families caused by the continuous flow of new migrants and seasonal migrants are the predominant stumbling blocks that exist at present, and this was evident in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic (Peter, 2020). Due to the absence of migrant-centric labour laws in the country, there is no adequate mechanism to accumulate the details of migrant workers in the labour departments of destination states.  However, the Kerala government has launched a portal called 'Adhiti' for the registration of guest workers in 2023, which is not effective because of the scattered nature of migrants and their lack of awareness about the portal. Tracking down the unregistered, unorganised interstate migrant workers could be ominous.

Acquiring accurate and authentic disaggregated data on migrant workers is essential for developing evidence-based policies that benefit all stakeholders. The Kerala state government's initiative to conduct a comprehensive, nationwide survey of unorganised labour represents a significant step forward in creating more inclusive schemes. This pioneering effort sets a benchmark for both state and central governments to craft similar inclusive policies for interstate unorganised migrant workers. Successful implementation of such policies requires a collaborative approach involving not only government entities but also local bodies such as non-governmental organisations, trade unions, and research institutes. Through this collective action, we can develop more comprehensive and effective migration policies, thereby enhancing the empowerment of migrants and the protection of their labour rights.

References

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