‘Nativist’ labour laws should be struck down, say experts — IE thinc Migration

In the second edition of the eight-part webinar series, Thinc Migration, organised by The Indian Express, panelists said that the laws in Jharkhand and Haryana, that reserve private sector jobs for local residents, are “nativist” and should be struck down.

Naushad Forbes, co-chairman at Forbes Marshall, stated that Jharkhand is “a huge supply state of migrant workers to the rest of the country.” “It’s people with skills you’d want to come into the state and create jobs locally,” he said. (Express Photo by Arul Horizon)

“As an Indian, any of us has the right to go and live and work in any part of the country and be treated on par with anyone who has grown up in part of the country,” Forbes asserted, calling upon the SC to strike down laws reserving jobs for locals. (Express Photo by Abhisek Saha)

Satyajeet Rajan, Additional Chief Secretary (Labour and Skills), Kerala, said that “nativism will disappear when India comes to term with the fact that it is one nation.” (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Rajan added that migrant workers should have a political voice. “We should encourage and train them to become voters in the new state,” he said. (Express Photo by Narendra Vaskar)

Yamini Aiyar, president, Centre for Policy Research noted that while Vande Bharat flights were functioning at the peak of the lockdown, “the government didn’t do that for internal migrant workers.” “That’s fundamentally an issue of political voice,” she said. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)