Need to Set Up Exclusive Welfare Board in Tamil Nadu for Migrant Workers from Eastern and North Eastern States

Nandini Voice For Deprived, a Chennai based not-for-profit organisation, conducted a study on the state of migrant workers in Tamil Nadu, their contribution and issues faced. The study was conducted based on informal discussions with a cross section of stakeholders. Highlights of the findings of the study are given below:

Compulsive employment need for migrant workers

It is reported that around 35 lakh migrant workers, from eastern and north eastern states including Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Nagaland are presently working in Tamil Nadu, as per the Tamil Nadu government data. They carry out different types of jobs in multiple sectors and fields such as textile/garment factories, agricultural operations, retail shops, construction activities, security agencies, eateries, quarries, etc. and work at the skilled and semi-skilled levels doing physical work.

Most of them are in the age below 40 and belong to lower income group. They come to Tamil Nadu due to lack of adequate job opportunities in their native states and in order to sustain themselves and their families economically. This is the compulsive condition faced by them.

Most of them get informal employment without proper rules and regulations being followed by the employers. Sometimes, they get the jobs through middlemen.

Employers prefer migrant workers

It is increasingly seen that the employers in Tamil Nadu generally prefer workers from eastern and north eastern states, more than the workers from Tamil Nadu, particularly for skilled and semi skilled work. Employers prefer them as they work hard for long hours, put up with difficult working conditions and often with low wages compared to the native workers in Tamil Nadu.

Working conditions

As these migrant workers are sometimes made to work in conditions without adequate safety measures in place, news often appear about death and injuries to the migrant workers as they carry out their work. The recent incident is the death of around 18 workers from Jharkhand in Thiruvallur region due to ammonia leak which is one among the number of accidents that have taken place in recent times.

When such accidents happen, adequate compensation is not provided to the injured persons or families of dead persons by the employers.

Further, they often lack housing facilities and on several ­occasions, the employers provide them common dormitory-type accommodation with minimum facilities.

Interaction with local population

Most of the migrant workers manage to speak some broken ­Tamil but seldom interact with the local population and mostly spend their time within their groups. Obviously, they find that Tamil culture is alien to them, which prevents them from identifying themselves with the local population. In such circumstances, there also seems to be a feeling of insecurity and helplessness amongst them.

No challenge to demographic balance in Tamil Nadu

Most of the migrant workers have plans to go back to their native places and do not plan to settle down in Tamil Nadu. A few of them bring their families and a few women may also work. However, this is only a temporary arrangement and they have no plans to stay lifelong in Tamil Nadu.

It appears that there would not be any significant impact on the demographic population balance in Tamil Nadu in the long run, because of the migrant workers from eastern and north eastern states.

Integral part of economic activity

All said and done, there is consensus view among a cross section of employers at various levels in Tamil Nadu that in the absence of the workers from eastern and north eastern states, industrial output would get reduced in several places and commercial and agricultural operations would be severely impacted. The view is that workers shortage could become a grim issue in Tamil Nadu, particularly with the output of workers from Tamil Nadu being much less than that of migrant workers due to reasons such as widespread freebie culture in Tamil Nadu and section of youth population in Tamil Nadu becoming liquor addicts and drug abusers.

There are many occasions reported in the media that output in the factories and workspots suffer heavily when the workers from eastern and north eastern states go to their native places during festival time and other occasions.

In short, workers from eastern and north eastern states have now become an integral and inevitable part of industrial and economic activity in Tamil Nadu. It is difficult to visualise a scenario without migrant workers.

Negative publicity

There are also exaggerated media reports about some persons from eastern and north eastern states being caught for criminal activities.

Such incidents are few and far between, but prominently published in the media, tarnishing the image of the hard working workers from eastern and north eastern states.

Appeal to the Government of Tamil Nadu

In the interest of sustaining the industrial activities and economic growth of Tamil Nadu, the migrant workers from eastern and north eastern states should be taken care of by providing them required support by the government.

While there is a portal for registration of migrant workers in Tamil Nadu, this has not helped the cause of the migrant workers in any way.

The present practice of informal employment of migrant workers should be put an end to. They need to be given medical facilities and minimum wages should be assured to them based on the work output.

While there is a welfare board for unorganised workers in Tamil Nadu providing them social security, the need of the migrant workers from eastern and north eastern states are different from the other unorganised workers in Tamil Nadu, and the government should take note of this.

Recognising the role and importance of workers from the north eastern states and their indispensable role, Tamil Nadu government should recognise their contribution to the state and set up an exclusive welfare board to ensure fair working conditions for them and to prevent exploitation.

It is high time that some proactive and specific welfare schemes are implemented for the well deserved migrant workers from eastern and north eastern states. Such schemes need to be adequately monitored by the government.

N.S. Venkataraman
Trustee, Nandini Voice for the Deprived
H-119, Flat 2A, Ramaniyam Samudra
33rd Cross Street, Besant Nagar, Chennai 600090