Migrant Workers Prefer Working in Kerala More Than Their Own States

Amidst the false propaganda against Kerala that migrant workers are not safe in the State, the workers have denied the question of fear and atrocities against them. Embracing Kerala and the living conditions in the state, Sayed, a worker hailing from Murshidabad in West Bengal said: “We are living harmoniously here, and we work here to take care of our family.”

Last week, the migrant workers were terrified by the fake messages and rumours in social media platforms, that the migrant workers were being attacked and brutally killed in Kerala.

When asked about reports of migrant workers are flocking to their native states, Sayed and his co-workers have repudiated it. "Why should we return to our home states giving up the fairly-paid job over here'" said Sayed expressing their anger against the propaganda.

“Three of our friends have gone to Bengal and they would be back to work after Durga Pooja and Diwali,” said Khan, hails from Odisha and lives in Kannur, Kerala.

According to a 2013 study by the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, 2.5 million migrants reside in the state. 75 percent of the migrant workers in Kerala are from Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Assam. Besides these states, workers from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Manipur and Uttarakhand also migrate to Kerala for better livelihood and fair wages. Recently workers from Bangladesh and Nepal too have come to Kerala for jobs.

Majority of the migrants are working as unskilled labourers, especially in the construction sector, hospitality, fishing, laterite mining, apparel manufacturing and on plantations.

The migrants are primarily captivated by better wages and living conditions than in their states. The minimum wage in Kerala is Rs 600, while the minimum wages in these states varies from Rs 90 to Rs 200. According to studies, every migrant worker in Kerala sends Rs 70,000 home per year in remittances.

In a report, Amnesty International noted about the pathetic work conditions in India. It has observed that “Marginalized communities continued to be frequently ignored in the government’s push for faster economic growth.” At the same time, Kerala stands top in the case of labour friendly policies.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front government in the state which endorses the migrants with worker friendly policies yet again amazed the hate campaigners by announcing a new project named ‘Roshni’.

Along with existing workers friendly policies, aiming at the socio-educational upliftment of children of migrant workers, Ernakulam district administration proposed the project Roshni.

The district administration in coordination with the district panchayat, Education Department, SSA and an NGO will carry forward the project to prevent dropping out of the children of migrant workers from school.

“The project is conceived as a socio-cultural bridge for migrant children, and will be rolled out on a pilot basis. It will be extended to more schools from next year,” said District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla.

The project will be launched on October 19th in four schools with the highest number of migrant children in Ernakulam. According to surveys, Ernakulam district has the largest migrant community in the State. There are around 2,000 migrant children spread over 18 schools in the district.

Earlier, the Labour Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan said in a press conference that the government was rolling out schemes to provide medical care and insurance and housing scheme for migrant workers.

The healthcare scheme, Awaaz, would be beneficial for workers in the 18-60 age group and the services would be free of cost. The registered members under the scheme would get treatment at government and empaneled hospitals. The scheme provides accident and life insurance cover too.

The registration of workers would be starting from November 1 and the services would become available from January 2018. Facilitation centers would be opened in all districts and registered members would be given chip-embedded smart cards with biometric data and personal information.

Apna Ghar, the housing scheme for migrant workers had announced in the Budget. By January 2018, the first affordable housing project under the scheme would be completed in Palakkad. Similar projects are underway at Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram too.

Besides, the Labour Department also takes steps to implement minimum accommodation standards for migrant labourers across the State.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan once again asserted its commitment to the safety of migrant workers in the state on the backdrop of the hate campaign against the state. Appealing the migrant workers not to fall prey to fake news, Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the false propaganda against the government and the state.

While CPI (M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said: “the false campaign among the migrant workers and their family members may be an offshoot of the propaganda being unleashed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh combine that Kerala is a land of terror”.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick