October 17, 2017

Modi Govt working on policy to regularise migrant workers proposes broad contours of the policy for public discussion.

In a move that may increase its appeal among the migrant worker community in urban areas, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) govt. has come out with a policy to formalize the domestic workers & extent social benefits to them.

On Monday, the Union Labour ministry put out the broad contours of the policy for public discussion. The 4 key takeaways are recognition of these people as “workers”, guaranteeing them a min. wage, permitting unionization, & devising a dispute-resolution mechanism.

This policy seeks to give these workers equal remuneration, min. wages, fair employment terms & a mechanism for redress of grievances. If adopted, the policy’ll give the workers granted a rights to form unions & get protection from violence & abuse. They’ll also have an access to health & maternity benefits & old-age pensions.

The ministry has invited comments on the draft from the general public within 1 month.

The govt. believes that an institutional dispute-resolution mechanism’ll help avoid incidents like the recent 1 in Noida where a female domestic help working in a housing society was allegedly beaten up, following which a not-so-peaceful protest took place. Mob also blocked the Dadri-Surajpur-Chhalera road at Barola.

There’re about 4.2 million domestic workers in India & they’re in high demand in urban areas, especially with the changing nature of lifestyle. Yet, they continue to live & work without respectable social conditions & basic facilities.

Women form the bulk of this workforce, the absence of a fixed wage structure forces them to work in many households for earning a decent living.

The 189 convention of International Labour Organisation ensures that various rights for domestic workers. These include fixed wage, weekly holiday & medical benefits. India, however hasn’t to ratified the convention yet.

Due to the nature of their job & dispersed locations, domestic workers have mostly remained unorganized so far. And this’s understood to be a reason why they’re often exploited by employers & private domestic workers’ agencies & made forced to work for long hours for lower wages.