NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Theme : Inclusive Growth & Issues,Issues relating growth and development
Paper : GS - 3
India has used Aadhaar (digital identity) and UPI (digital payments) extensively to address the challenges of identification and financial inclusion in social protection delivery, particularly in the case of migrants.
A "migrant worker" is a person who either migrates within their home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- Who are Migrants Worker?
- Problems faced by Migrants?
- Relevance of Technology
- What can be done by the government?
Context : India has used Aadhaar (digital identity) and UPI (digital payments) extensively to address the challenges of identification and financial inclusion in social protection delivery, particularly in the case of migrants.
Who are Migrants Worker?
- A "migrant worker" is a person who either migrates within their home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
- Migrant workers who work outside their home country are also called foreign workers. They may also be called expatriates or guest workers, especially when they have been sent for or invited to work in the host country before leaving the home country.
- The International Labor Organization estimated in 2014 there were 232 million international migrants worldwide who were outside their home country for at least 12 months and approximately half of them were estimated to be economically active (i.e. being employed or seeking employment).
Problems faced by Migrants?
- Lack of Insurance Benefits in a Pandemic Environment: Migrant workers work in precarious conditions with little wages and no access to government schemes and services. Poor and unsafe working and living conditions make them prone to diseases. Greater threats of occupational illnesses, nutritional diseases, alcoholism, HIV, and communicable diseases are rampant in the migrant workforce.
- Issue of timely and Fair Payment of Wages: The informal workforce in India consists of more than 150.6 million regular and daily wage earners. Most of these workers are unaware of their rights as ‘migrant workers’. Many unscrupulous agents coerce them and don’t pay minimum wages as per law.
- Lack of portability of benefits: Migrants registered to claim access to benefits at one location lose access upon migration to a different location. This is especially true of access to entitlements under the PDS. Ration card required to access benefits under the PDS is issued by state governments and is not portable across states. This system excludes inter-state migrants from the PDS unless they surrender their card from the home state and get a new one from the host state.
- Lack of affordable housing: The proportion of migrants in urban population is 47%. In 2015, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs identified migrants in urban areas as the largest population needing housing in cities. There is inadequate supply of low-income ownership and rental housing options.
Relevance of Technology :
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Providing digital public infrastructure (DPI): Digital public infrastructure systems that enable the effective provision of essential society-wide functions and services can enable a paradigm shift, allowing governments to co-create solutions with the private sector and civil society.
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Adopting Public private partnership models: There are three key areas where DPI can enable public-private partnerships (PPP) in the delivery of social protection of migrants.
- Awareness of entitlements
- Information about livelihoods and housing
- Healthy Grievance redressal Mechanism
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Adopting well-designed data: While a growing ecosystem of private players (NGOs, civil society organizations, not-for-profit and for-profit entities) are addressing these needs, well designed data exchanges can help unlock a strong public-private collaboration in the delivery of social protection.
What can be done by the government?
- Creating centralized data: The state’s digital efforts are often in siloes and the need to maximize use of data across schemes and departments is a high priority.
- E-Shram: Initiatives such as direct benefit transfers and linking of schemes for portability of entitlements have shown promise. e-Shram, which is a national database of unorganized workers, aims to reduce access barriers to social protection for migrants.
- Making portable entitlement: Recent announcements of API-based integration of e-Shram with the various state government labor departments and with the One Nation One Ration Card scheme are a step in that direction.
- Working with the private sector: Enabling linkages of migrant data with the private sector can lead to benefits on the demand side, in the form of reduced transaction costs in identifying jobs, affordable housing and redressal of grievances.
- Engaging private sector: Private players who have established relationships with these mobile populations can help the state in planning and forecasting the demand for benefits.
FAQs:
1. Who are Migrant Workers?
Answer : A "migrant worker" is a person who either migrates within their home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
2. How is Technology Relevant?
Answer : Providing digital public infrastructure (DPI)- Digital public infrastructure systems that enable the effective provision of essential society-wide functions and services can enable a paradigm shift, allowing governments to co-create solutions with the private sector and civil society.