KEY INSIGHTS INTO MIGRATION

• The government gave a tentative estimate of there being 10 crore migrant workers in India but admitted to many being largely undocumented and unregistered as workers.

SOCIAL COMPOSITION : 

• The last National Sample Survey Office migration survey, which was published more than two decades ago (2007–08), the proportion of migrant households among Scheduled Tribes (STs) was higher than among all other communities.
• The same data showed that STs were the single largest group among female migrants.
• Since then, the number of Adivasis dependent on wage labour has increased in comparison to those dependent on cultivation.

• In the name of ease of business, the last several years have seen an accelerated process of displacement and dispossession of Adivasi communities and a takeover of their land and forest-based resources, increasing the numbers of migrant workers from Adivasi communities.

EMPLOYMENT PATTERN : 

• MIXTURE OF ALL : The patterns of Adivasi migration are somewhat different than those of other workers — they are short term, often seasonal, and circulatory in nature both within the State and inter-State.
• MANUAL WORK : Adivasi migration is mainly for seasonal agricultural and construction work, work in brick kilns or as manual workers in urban areas.
• UNUSUAL SHIFT : In Maharashtra, large numbers of Adivasis migrate for fishing work.
• FEMALE COUNTERPARTS :This is apart from young Adivasi women who migrate to urban areas as domestic workers.
• BONDED SYSTEM : Contractors often advance payments and the workers are then treated as bonded to the contractor.

LAW AND RIGHTS

• The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, the only law for migrant workers, is on the way to being scrapped as part of labour reform.

• Although the 1979 law is inadequate since it deals only with those migrant workers in the contractor system and excludes workers who migrate on their own, for Adivasi migrant workers employed through contractors, its implementation would have ensured payment as well as free travel back home.
• DILUTION OF LIABILITY   : State is legally liable to ensure free travel home since it is responsible for the termination of the work because of the lockdown.

CAUSE OF SUFFERING

• ENDLESS JOURNEY : Having suffered two months of the lockdown without work, Adivasi migrant workers will return home penniless.
• UNAWARE POLICIES : But they are totally ‘invisibilised’ in the government policies in the package announced.
• IRREGULAR PDS : The functioning of Public Distribution System in Adivasi areas, particularly in the hilly regions, is generally irregular.
• POVERTY AT DOORSTEP : Now, at the time of lockdown, ground reports point to a looming emergency of hunger and starvation in many Adivasi areas.

THE OLD SCHOOL SCHEMES :

The Central government gave permission for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme work only from April 20.

• DISTRIBUTION : At present, there are hardly any MGNREGA works in Adivasi areas, except to some extent in Chhattisgarh.
• KICK- START : It is critical to start projects in a mission mode if communities are to be saved from destitution.

• This will be a labour subsidy for Adivasi women who mainly do this work and can help relieve the acute distress.
• Even though the government did announce revised rates for minor forest produce, in the absence of purchasing centres, the distress sales to middlemen have meant little or no income.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND HEALTH:

• The lockdown has caused more suffering to Adivasis than the virus.
• Most Adivasi habitats have so far been free of the virus.
• But what happens to Adivasi migrants when they get home is a major concern as the health infrastructure in these areas is extremely poor.

• The shortfall in the number of doctors is as high as 27%.
• Many of these areas are mineral rich.