Lessons from Covid: Jharkhand’s first survey of migrants

Officials and researchers told The Indian Express that the aim is to map the major sectors of engagement for migrant workers, find the social security benefits available to their families and identify the health hazards they face.

The initiative is part of the state’s Safe and Responsible Migration Initiative (SRMI), which was launched in 2021-end and includes the preparation of a database of migrant workers.

“Through JMS we would like to bring out the first ever state-level estimates of migration and conditions, and factors influencing migration. The evidence is expected to be used to draft a state-level policy framework on migration and welfare of migrant workers in Jharkhand in the upcoming fiscal year 2023-24,” Arindam Banerjee, founding partner at Policy and Development Advisory Group (PDAG), said.

PDAG is part of a consortium that signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government in October 2021 to design, build and implement the SRMI, including setting up a technical support unit for “evidence-based informed policy making”, said officials in the state’s Labour department.

One of the key aims listed in the MoU is to “integrate findings from the field survey to help design appropriate state policies to address welfare issues of migrant workers in the state”.

Kunal Singh, Research Lead at PDAG, said the enumerators will also undertake a “qualitative assessment”, speaking to community leaders and government representatives, “to check last-mile service delivery and understand how safe migration is being facilitated”.

“In terms of the nature of questions, we have divided them into several blocks, such as knowing household characteristics, understanding the outgoing and incoming of migrants or both, and understanding the push and pull factors, and their quality of life. Then, we are trying to know the remittance savings or its utilisation and the engagement of women within the house or their opinion on the nature of work sought,” Singh said.

According to official data, tribal communities form nearly 27 per cent of Jharkhand’s population. Officials said this segment is “affected by low human development indicators” and forms a significant chunk of the “huge outflow of the working age population”.

“The return of migrant workers to the state during the first Covid wave laid bare deeper policy challenges of social welfare, food security, livelihood and health management. Jharkhand also acts as a major source state of migration to far-flung regions like Ladakh, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh as well as Andaman & Nicobar Islands,” a Labour department official told The Indian Express.

Jharkhand is not the only state to conduct migrant labour surveys. Kerala has been a pioneer in this field, with several such surveys, followed by states like Tamil Nadu and Punjab. “But there is a basic difference in labour movement between Kerala and Jharkhand. In Kerala, workers mostly go abroad, mainly to Gulf countries. In Jharkhand, the issue is internal migration,” another official said.

Official sources said the ongoing stand-off with the Border Roads Organisation, over the welfare and safety of migrant workers from the state employed in BRO projects, was another reason that pushed the government to frame a policy. “The survey has started in that direction,” an official said.