Vol. 5 No. 2 (2021)
Articles

Exploring Rifts in Labour Situation of India: A Case Study of Migrant Labourers

Published 2021-07-31

Abstract

Migration in India has always been a debatable issue where scholars try to argue on its nature, intensity, locus, consequences vis-à-vis state policies. British- India studies highlighted the land fragmentation, population pressure, internal class structure, conflicts among different groups and health issues as the prima facia for this tendency. But after Independence, all over the continents the new force of decolonialization along with industrialization-urbanization has created new grounds of push-pull factors along with city dreams. In the late 1990s with the arrival of LPG and new agents of capitalism, a new sector for contract lease organized labor has evolved at an enormous rate. In India itself between the period from 2001 to 2011, while population grew by 18%, the number of migrants increased by 45% (Census Survey, 2011). The country has today one of the highest informal sectors of around 93% (Economic Survey 2018-19) in which U.P. and Bihar are the largest source of inter-state migrants. These daily wage labourers or casual employed persons who mostly are weaker sections of this caste ridden society, faces the highest burden during the lockdown because of COVID-19.This paper will highlight all the pain and worries of this largest workforce which still need a strong labour policy along with minimum wages in such crisis. In this paper, all the secondary data related with migration and exclusion will be covered with a critical review at last.