The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 needs to be rationalised to remove requirements that disincentivise formalization and ensure fair and decent conditions of employment. Explain (200 Words)
Refer - Indian Express
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IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
· A key piece of legislation governing inter-state migrants in India is the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979.
· The Act was enacted to prevent the exploitation of inter-state migrant workmen by contractors, and to ensure fair and decent conditions of employment.
· In the immediate aftermath of the lockdown, state governments were taken unawares by inter-state migrants who were desperate to return home. Many had lost jobs, would not be able to afford rent and were afraid of falling seriously ill away from their families.
· Since the Act is barely implemented, it exists as another law that potentially provides rent-seeking opportunities to enterprising government inspectors while failing in its main objective.
· To implement this law alone, government inspectors would not only have to maintain records of inter-state workmen, but also verify whether all the other requirements regarding wages, allowances, accommodation and health care are complied with.
· The consequences of the lockdown are already proving to be disastrous for migrant labour. One of the lessons from this episode is to not let aspirational requirements become a hindrance to the effective protection of the very groups these requirements are designed for.
· This will require a principled distinction between formalisation and ostensible social-welfare. While the former seeks to make people or activities visible or “legible”, the latter goes a step further.
· Those in the formal tier — fewer than 10 percent of the workforce — enjoy considerable protections, while those in the informal tier get almost no protections. Since welfare schemes are also predicated on the visibility of those getting the benefits, informal workers, especially in urban areas, fall through cracks in the system.
· The lack of any welfare net for informal workers in urban areas reflects the consequences of formalisation on paper — while farmers get cash transfers, and labourers in rural areas have MGNREGA, there are hardly any schemes for informal workers in urban areas.
Deepika 5 years
Please give feedback.
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good attempt. Keep Writing.
Pavithra.R 5 years
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good attempt. Try to underline the key points, provisions in the act are not required. Keep Writing
Aradhana Tiwari 5 years
The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, was enacted to prevent the exploitation of inter-state migrant workmen by contractors, and to ensure fair and decent conditions of employment.
In order to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the fallout of the lockdown highlights the urgent need to rationalise the legislative framework for labour in India because migrant labour has been among the worst affected due to the lockdown ,as they have very low resilience to stay in cities without employment.
>>> Provisions in the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 :
• It requires all establishments hiring inter-state migrants to be registered, and contractors who recruit such workmen be licensed.
• Contractors are obligated to provide details of all workmen to the relevant authority.
• Migrant workmen are entitled to wages similar to other workmen, displacement allowance, journey allowance, and payment of wages during the period of journey.
• Contractors are also required to ensure regular payment, non-discrimination, provisioning of suitable accommodation, free medical facilities and protective clothing for the workmen.
In the immediate aftermath of the lockdown, almost no state seems to have implemented this law in letter and spirit.
>>> The Act needs to be rationalised because of various reasons :
- the onerous compliance requirements set out in the law which makes the cost of hiring inter-state workmen higher than hiring similar labour from within the state.
- the absence of government preparedness and the consequent failure in preventing genuine hardships for vulnerable groups.
- the lack of state capacity to enforce such provisions.
>>> Way forward :
- be pragmatic and ensure that employers and contractors have incentives to come forward and register labourers
- need schemes like MGNREGA for informal workers in urban areas.
- the state needs to keep up with the task of ensuring compliance of such laws.
>>> Conclusion :
Social-welfare protections are predicated upon formalisation, thus, laws such as the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 must therefore be rationalised to remove requirements that disincentivise formalisation.
IAS Parliament 5 years
Provisions in the act are not required, elaborate more on need for rationalization. Keep Writing.
anisha 5 years
Kindly review it
IAS Parliament 5 years
Try to focus more on need for rationalization of law that is the main part of the answer. Keep Writing.
