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Journalism of Courage
A five-year-old boy in Hoshiarpur was found murdered on September 9 with multiple injuries on his body. The next day, police arrested a migrant labourer hailing from Uttar Pradesh from the Sabzi Mandi area of Hoshiarpur.
Punjab subsequently witnessed a wave of anger against migrant workers, with many panchayats passing resolutions which stated that migrants would not be allowed to stay in their villages.
Farmer unions, farm labourer organisations and industry bodies too condemned the crime and demanded the strictest possible punishment for the accused. But they also urged the government to act against the rising anti-migrant narrative in the state.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s (SKM’s) Punjab unit, after a meeting in Ludhiana on Saturday (September 27), asked the Punjab government to seriously implement the already existing Punjab Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979.
The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 is a central legislation enacted by Parliament to protect workers who migrate from one state to another for employment, usually through contractors. It was notified for nationwide enforcement on October 2, 1980.
The Act’s objective is to regulate recruitment, ensure registration of establishments and contractors, and guarantee workers basic rights such as equal wages, displacement allowance, journey allowance, housing, medical facilities, and protective clothing, while holding contractors and employers accountable.
Punjab has historically depended on a large number of migrant workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand, particularly in agriculture, brick kilns, construction and industry.
The trend began in the early 1970s with the onset of the Green Revolution. After initially coming to rural Punjab for paddy sowing, migrants gradually started working in factories and other settings.
A survey conducted by the Parvasi Wing of the SAD-BJP government in 2016 estimated Punjab’s migrant population at 39 lakh. According to Ram Chander Yadav, then president of the Parvasi Wing, the number has likely increased since.
The highest concentration of the migrant population is in Ludhiana, followed by Jalandhar, Amritsar, Mohali, Bathinda, Phagwara and Hoshiarpur.
During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, 18 lakh migrants registered with the Punjab government to return to their homes. Of these, nearly 10 lakh were from Uttar Pradesh and 6 lakh from Bihar. Others listed West Bengal, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh as their native states.
The Act was thus essential to protect such workers from exploitation and underpayment, and to maintain accountability and legal oversight over large-scale labour migration.
Punjab formally adopted the law by framing its own Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Punjab) Rules, 1983, which came into effect in April 1983. These rules laid down practical procedures such as registration, licensing, record-keeping, and the duties of contractors and employers within the state.
Any establishment or contractor employing five or more interstate migrant workers must register with the Registering/Licensing Officer appointed under the Punjab Rules. Registration and licensing are carried out through the e-Labour Punjab portal, where details such as the establishment’s name and address, number of workers, nature of work and particulars of contractors must be submitted.
Contractors are also required to provide information about any previous convictions, security deposits and compliance with labour laws. A nominal fee is charged based on the number of workers employed, and licenses are valid for one year, after which renewal is required.
Employers must maintain records such as muster rolls, wage registers and overtime registers, and notify labour authorities of any major change in workforce or contractor details.
However, apart from in a few organised industrial sectors, many organisations do not follow this registration process.
This is why, amid rising anti-migrant sentiments in the state, organisations such as SKM call for proper implementation of the Act.
This sentiment, however, is not new.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, while campaigning for 2024 Lok Sabha polls, had called for a law similar to that in Himachal Pradesh, which would bar migrants from buying land, becoming voters, or securing government jobs without fulfilling state-stipulated conditions. Former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi too faced controversy for his anti-migrant remark during the 2022 election campaign.
Time and again, concerns have been raised that the exodus of Punjabis to foreign countries is altering the state’s demography, with migrants filling jobs in agriculture, industry and services that locals leave behind.
