Migrant Realities
‘Why we work and live in Kerala’: Migrant labourers speak
Kerala caters to around 3.5 to 4 million migrant workers. The workers come from around 25 states, as Kerala provides the highest daily wages in the country. The people who migrate due to lack of employment, poverty, extreme climatic conditions, find a better living in Kerala. They find the state stable, socially and economically. They are employed in agricultural, non agricultural sectors, factories, construction companies and many of them even run small scale ventures. The longest migration corridor in the country is found in the state where laborers from Dibrugarh in Assam migrate to the Southern districts of Kerala. Here they explain why they have migrated, why they stay back in the state for many years and what Kerala means to them. Here is their Kerala story.
Waste collectors in Bangalore face discrimination and exploitation
Garbage segregators in India often have to migrate in search of work. Many in Bangalore, India, also face constant harassment from the police and local residents, often facing eviction from informal settlements if they can't afford to pay bribes. Bengali migrant Salmina Sheikh came from a village near the city of Kolkata a year ago to rejoin her husband, who makes about $120 a month by selling segregated waste to nearby recycling plants.
Some relief: Editorial on West Bengal government’s initiative for wage labourers
The initiative will be supervised by the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board and will offer financial assistance to the families of migrant workers in case of a tragedy. Regional offices would reportedly be opened in Maharashtra, Delhi and Kerala — the hubs where migrants travel to for work from Bengal — along with round-the-clock assistance centres.
Women in the Workforce
Do recruiters want to hire women?
We looked at emerging, new-economy industries such as warehousing, last-mile delivery, and flexi-staffing, since these are the high-growth, mass-employment sectors of the future. In most of the companies in these industries, the hiring departments as well as the recruitment firms they appoint are dominated by men. Recruiters in warehousing tend to search for candidates at tea stalls, which are places where men congregate almost exclusively. They also share these jobs on WhatsApp groups, from which women are missing because they aren’t part of such social networks and no one thinks to add them to these groups. Since the messaging around recruitment is also mostly male-centric, women candidates feel unwelcome to apply for these jobs.
Women working overtime at 11 year high in 2019
The share of women workers in registered factories submitting annual returns — working more than the statutorily-mandated maximum limit of 48 hours in a week — increased to a 11-year high of 33.6 per cent in 2019, shows the latest annual data released by the labour bureau. In comparison, only 27.9 per cent male workers worked more than the statutorily- mandated hours.
Toiling Away Without a Toilet Break
“During emergencies, I relieve myself right here,” Diya Toppo (name changed) says, indicating a very small gap between the densely planted, thorny tea bushes. “I was stung by a bee just this morning; you could also get bitten by snakes here,” she adds worriedly. Regular working conditions for daily wage labourers is hard, but if you are a woman working in a tea garden, even taking a toilet break could be fraught with unknown dangers. If toilets are far away, it also eats into the time they spend plucking and they lose out on wages. A worker needs to collect 20 kilos of leaves to receive the daily wage of Rs. 232. That works out to roughly 2 kilos of leaves per hour in the 10-hour work day if they work without a break.
Profiles
Raising the Bar: From working at NLU Lucknow as security guard for 8 years to clearing the law exam
Santosh Kumar worked at the college as he pursued his law degree. In 2022, when the students learnt that he wanted to be a lawyer, they raised Rs 9,000 so that he could get Hindi books to prepare for the Bar.
Nutrition tracking does not pay enough
I’ve been an anganwadi worker since 2011 in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district. My responsibilities include teaching children, distributing ration, performing election duty, running vaccination drives, and taking care of the nutrition of pregnant women and infants… Since 2021, we have the additional responsibility of measuring the children’s weight and height till they reach the age of six, and then feeding this data into the government’s Poshan Tracker app. My salary is INR 5,500, which isn’t enough to run the household. With the incentives for the Poshan Tracker work, my salary ranges from INR 7,000-9,000. No one can explain the criteria for how incentives are calculated… I’m working neither as a proper teacher nor as a proper doctor.
Employment News
Rajasthan govt aims to generate over 400,000 jobs for youths in FY24
The state government will organise mega jobs fairs at tehsils and at the district level during this financial year itself. It is targeting to generate jobs for over 400,000 youths in private companies and other establishments. According to a senior state government official, so far, more than 30,000 youths have been provided employment through these fairs held at eight different locations, including Jodhpur, recently. In Jodhpur, more than 4,500 youths have been selected for jobs. One of them, Vivek, got the highest annual package of Rs 9 lakh. He got the job of a computer engineer
Urban unemployment dips to 6.8 per cent
The unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas declined to 6.8 per cent during January-March 2023 from 8.2 per cent a year ago, the National Sample Survey Survey (NSSO) showed. Joblessness or unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force. Joblessness was high in January-March 2022, mainly due to the staggering impact of Covid-related restrictions in the country.
Pending Wages
WB: Jangal Mahal People Facing Food Scarcity; no MGNREGA Work, Earlier Wages yet to be Paid
"Two years ago, I worked under MGNREGA, and till today, I did not get my wages. I am due Rs 8,000. I don't know when I will receive it. Right now, there is no work for land labourers. How can we live?" Union rural development ministry has decided to withhold the MGNREGA funds for West Bengal for the financial year of 2022-23 and 2023-24, extending the imposition of section 27 of the MGNREGA Act that allows for stoppage of funds for violation of rules in the implementation of the scheme by the state.
The rural wage rule GOI must relinquish
The poor history of wage payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act took another wrong turn earlier this year. On January 30, the rural development ministry issued an order making Aadhaar-based payments compulsory for all NREGA wages from February 1, 2023 – just two days later. This has led to utter chaos and worse, the injustice of unpaid NREGA work.
Salary Growth
Hottest Jobs In India 2023: Report by Teamlease
HR services company TeamLease has released its annual 'Jobs and Salary Primer Report' for the upcoming fiscal year. According to the report, there has been a range of salary growth between 3.20% and 10.19% across various industries, which shows a slight decrease compared to the previous year when salary grew between 4.11% and 10.71%. However, more than 41% of job profiles in different industries have only a 5% pay gap between permanent and temporary jobs. As companies prioritize expansion and technological advancement, there continues to be a significant need for Sales and IT positions. The report also states some top sales profiles and IT profiles with the average salary growth in each. See listing here.
Meagre Wages
Workers at India’s Largest Mandi Still Paid Decades-Old Rates, Can’t Afford Vegetables
Even after the success of farmers’ protests, mandi workers, the most vulnerable in the food and farming chain, have not seen any improvements in their lives. India is among the world’s top food producers; yet, it faces a chronic undernourishment crisis with 16% of its population malnourished compared to the global average of 8%.
Mobilising Workers
A Long Road to Justice: Bellsonica--PUDR report
The story of labour assertion at Bellsonica Auto Component India Private Limited, Manesar, Haryana, 23 May 2023. Workers of Bellsonica Auto Component India Private Limited at the Industrial Model Township (IMT) Manesar in the National Capital Region of India have been sitting on relay hunger strike outside their factory since 4 May 2023, protesting against the spate of recent arbitrary terminations and suspensions of permanent and contractual workers by the management. This present protest by the BACIEU has entered its 20th day today (23 May 2023). A PUDR team investigated the protest, spoke to demonstrating workers, examined the correspondence between the Union, management and Labour Department, and the laws and case law around the issues of the struggle in an attempt to understand the reasons for this present crisis and labour struggle. Its findings are presented here.
Haryana: Thousands of Govt Employees and Workers Gather for 'Chetawani Rally'
VIDEO: On May 28, thousands of government employees and workers gathered in Jind, Haryana, to raise their long pending demands. Their main demands include the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme and regularisation of contract workers. They have warned the BJP-led Haryana government that they will throw it out of power if their demands are not fulfilled.
Midday meal workers march in Kolkata for better wage & benefits
Under the banner of the Association of Midday Meal Assistants (AMMA), hundreds of midday meal workers from different parts of the state came to together to march from Sealdah to SN Banerjee Road in Esplanade. “We work from 10 am to 4 pm, and we only get Rs 10 per day for it. We receive no benefits or bonus as such,” said Rakhi Mondol, a midday meal worker from Phulia.
WorkerConnect Radio: Aanganwadi workers strike enters day 4 in Assam
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The UPSC Industry
State govts are getting into UPSC coaching game—not for business but as a strategy
Private UPSC coaching centres are part of an estimated Rs 3,000 crore industry in India, and many of the tutors are insanely popular among aspirants and have even become YouTube influencers. But the exorbitant fees deter poorer students from aspiring for the coveted UPSC spot. Now, more and more state governments are trying to get a say in it. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi are just some of the state governments that are running their own UPSC coaching centres — not as businesses but as a strategy to diversify the pool of aspirants. It’s advantage students too — free classes and study material, and teaching by serving IAS officers. And it seems to be working.
Renewable Energy and Employment
Decentralised solar is transforming rural India, needs an extra push
Traditional livelihoods and rural trades are being boosted by local solar power. Decentralised renewable energy solutions are supporting several people in rural Karnataka whose trade suffered from irregular power supply. The thrust provided by solar power has also reduced the dependence on additional labour and increased their incomes. While experts claim that large-scale adoption of decentralised renewable technology can help reduce rural-urban migration and create more jobs and livelihood options in rural India, the cost of solar equipment continues to pose a challenge for low income rural populations.