Labour Migration and Welfare Schemes: Utilizing by the workers a critical perspective on Kerala

Abstract
In the globalisation era, people migrated easily from one place to another place, and it is filling the gap and maintaining the demographic change. In the case of internal migration in India, people continuously migrate from lower-opportunity areas to high-opportunity areas. Here, the origin place of migration refers to Assam, Bihar, and West Bengal, and their destination place is mainly Kerala. For the migrated workers, the central and the state governments are taking many initiatives and determining which policies and schemes are made and whether these policies are adequately implemented. What is the main problem with implementing these schemes, and how can we include them?

Introduction:

In the modern technological era, people migrated from one place to another place for various purposes of living and searching for better places than the previous ones for better opportunities such as improving socio-economic conditions, household conditions, educating their children, gathering dowry for daughter or sisters, and expanses of medicine of old parents, wife, and children’s. These are the primary reasons for migrant labour. Here, people come to Kerala as migrant labourers from different states of India, mainly from Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and other northern states. Suppose we see the current situation of migrant labourers in Kerala. In that case, they are engaged in different sectors, with construction as the primary sector, domestic helpers, hotel restaurant workers, street vendors, small businesses, etc. Comparatively, they are getting much higher wages in Kerala than in their previous workplace. Moreover, most people came here through friends and relatives; very few have been coming through contractors.

In the abovementioned context, this research will deal with the following problems. First, why do labourers migrate to Kerala in large numbers? Second, whether and to what extent the socio-economic conditions of the migrated workers have improved after migration. Finally, whether the migrated workers have utilised the benefits of government policies (both by the central and the state governments) meant for their welfare. My study finds that large numbers of labour migration are still happening from Assam, Bihar and West Bengal to Kerala, and their socioeconomic conditions have improved considerably. However, paradoxically, the migrant labourers have failed to utilise the benefits of government policies specifically designed for their welfare.

Reasons for Migration:

One critical migration theory is the push-pull theory, which motivates migrants to design their destination place. This theory’s inherent meaning explains that people are going from low-opportunity areas (like an agriculture failure, lack of jobs, low wage rate, etc.) to high-opportunity areas (like better wages, availability of employment, etc.). Here, the factor of the place of origin and destination develops this theory (De Haas & Center on Migration, Citizenship and Development, 2007). Kerala has become a migrant hub destination, like other places such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru (Kumar, 2008). If we look at the data on migrant labour in Kerala, it is confusing, but some reports gave us the idea that around 3.5 million migrants are present here; one report said that Assam and West Bengal have the highest share of the labour market in Kerala (“State Planning Board, Government of Kerala,” 2021). Bijulal M V figured out in an article that around seven to ten lakh migrant labourers from West Bengal work in Kerala (M V, 2024).

Those who are migrant workers in Kerala, coming from different parts of India, especially from Assam, Bengal, and Bihar, belong to impoverished families and the massive influx of migrants. Another point is that their demographical view is overpopulated (Bihar and West Bengal’s 2023 estimated population is 12.6 and 9.90 crore, respectively, and density is 1102&1029 (West et al. 2022 | Sex Ratio & Literacy Rate 2024, n.d.; Bihar Population 2022 | Sex Ratio & Literacy Rate 2024, n.d.)), and work opportunities are meagre for people. Moreover, the wage rate and daily wage pay system are entirely different because if we compare with Bengal, where the nonskilled worker wage rate is 350-400 rupees and is not paid timely, here for the same work, a nonskilled worker earned 900-1100 rupees, and getting daily.  
First, if we look at the past, the migrants who first worked in many different parts of India came to Kerala. They are pleased with their workplace, work pressure, wage rate, work time, overtime allowances, societal discrimination, etc. The migrant labourers of Kerala can send some amount through remittances. Comparatively, their living conditions have been improving, and a tiny percentage of people's financial situation has not improved, but it is going correctly. Migrant workers who have been staying in Kerala for many years can speak Malayalam fluently, but new migrants who have recently come face some language problems.  

Welfare policies of Governments:  

As we know, Migration is a global phenomenon, a cyclical and continuous process, and people are rotating and filling the workforce shortage gap. In this process, migrants utilise benefits or opportunities and face many problems at their destination and origin places. In Kerala, migrants have been excluded from political rights, causing social isolation and segregation among workers (The Times of India, 2024). One incident happening a 13-year-old girl belonging to a migrant family went missing from her rented house at Kazhakoottam, Kerala (The Times of India, 2024). The Central and nearly all state governments have been making policies to preserve and maintain the intra-state demographic balance in order to avoid negative consequences emanating from skewed migration patterns. In some situations, we see that in a village in the Murshidabad district, all men workforce went out for jobs because, in their local area, there were not enough job opportunities for labourers, and they also were not getting any support from governmental welfare policies like MGNREGA scheme (Down to Earth, 2024). Approximately two years ago, the funding for this scheme was stuck because of state and central government funding-related disputes, affecting 13.2 million MGNREGA workers (Down to Earth, 2024). In the tea industry of North Bengal, workers have been getting meagre wage rates for the production of tea, less than the minimum wage of agricultural labour (Chakraborti & Ramchandra, 2022; Ansari & Sheereen, 2016). In Malda districts, many villages have been grasping by the Ganga River (Organiser Weekly, 2024). South 24th Parganas has often been affected by cyclones like Amfan, impacting cultivation and other production.
The central government and the state governments are all taking many welfare policies for migration and migrants like:

• MGNREGA, primarily for distressed people of rural India, 100 days guaranteeing employment through this scheme.
• One Nation One Ration Card Scheme (ONORC): This scheme helps to access subsidised food grains from the public distribution system (PDS) any part and anywhere of India by the migrants; (by central govt. initiatives).
• West Bengal Migrant Workers' Welfare Scheme: The Government of West Bengal’s Labour Department implemented a social welfare scheme. Suppose any migrant worker who dies in another state registers this scheme, 25000 rupees to the nominee for bringing the dead body to their permanent address.
• KARMASATHI (Parijayee Shramik): This scheme was designed by the government Of West Bengal for the resolution of problems migrant workers face outside of West Bengal (22lakh workers registered in web portal) (KARMASATHI (Parijayee Shramik), n.d.).
• Health Insurance for Interstate Migrant Workers (AWAAZ) by the government of Kerala: insured migrants will get health insurance of 25000 rupees, and for accidental death insurance, 2 lakh rupees(5,16,320 workers registered and medical benefits getting 48 workers reported by the State Planning Board, the government of Kerala).
• Apna Ghar: This is the rental housing project made by the government of Kerala to provide dwelling places to migrants at affordable rates (“State Planning Board, Government of Kerala,” 2021).

Conclusion and suggestions:

If we look very closely at these policies and schemes, which are not fully accessible to migrant workers, somehow, there is some lack. In the case of Kerala, many migrants do not know and are unaware of the schemes, and many do not know how to apply for and register for these schemes. We can also imagine that over 5 lakhs of 35 lakh migrant workers have registered for this scheme. The incoming migrants are well versed in Hindi (irrespective of their mother tongue), which they want to use as the lingua franca in Kerala. However, the problem remains that few residents of Kerala understand and speak Hindi. Besides that, the governments’ (both Central and the state) welfare policies are disseminated either in Malayalam or English. It creates a wide gap in linguistic communication between migrants and the bureaucratic structure. This prevents the majority of migrants from being informed about the existing policies and schemes. Origin states like Bengal are taking the initiative, which is not fulfilled entirely, but comparatively, the participation rate is very high because they can understand the language. For those not interested in going out for them, MGNREGA has a very successful scheme, but it is stuck in Bengal for some reason.
Now, the question is how to include everyone and build an inclusive policy. First, to build inclusivity in these schemes in Kerala, we have to focus on language. Second, migrants, wherever they are staying, have become a colony of migrants and built a market for their daily needs. The government has to organise awareness programs in their native language or Hindi. Third, most of the migrant workers working under Malayali contractors know Hindi, so they need to be aware first, then through the contractors to understand the migrants. Last, the central and state governments jointly take the initiative to spread news-related policies or schemes through social media. It will be effective because most migrants are using smartphones and social media.

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