INTER-STATE MIGRANTS

Sept. 18, 2020

Nationwide, there were less than 34,000 workers registered in 2019-20 under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (ISMW) Act, 1979, according to a response to a recent Right to Information (RTI) Act request.

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In response to an RTI request filed by activist Anjali Bhardwaj, the Central Labour Commissioner (CLC) provided data showing that only 33,776 migrant workers were registered under the Act in 2019-20, according to monthly reports from regional offices.
The highest number of registrations came from the Kochi regional office in Kerala, with over 7,800 workers, followed by Dhanbad in Jharkhand (almost 7,496) and Chennai in Tamil Nadu (6,623).
On the other hand, Delhi, Dehradun and Patna regions registered zero migrant workers last year, and for the last five years.
Recently the Labour Ministry told the Lok Sabha that it had no data on the migrant workers who lost their jobs or lives during the lockdown. However, it claimed that over one crore migrant workers returned to their home States during the lockdown.

Source : The Hindu