The fallout of demonetisation has been “unemployment or under employment”, according to Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken. While speaking at a Press conference on Friday, Maken demanded the city Government to provide around 50 per cent of minimum wages as “unemployment allowance” to the workforce in the unorganised sector hit by demonetisation.
Also, he wrote a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in which Maken termed the workforce in the unorganised sector the “lifeline” of the city and demanded “unemployment allowance” for them.
“48.64 lakh workers in the unorganised sector in Delhi are on the verge of losing their employment. The government should immediately provide `5,000 to each of these workers, which is around 50 per cent of minimum wages, as unemployment allowance,” he said.
“It is because of this unorganised workforce, Delhi sustains itself. They are the providers of affordable services and labour. In a way, they are the real lifeline of the national Capital,” Maken said.
The Congress expressed concern over large number of migration of labour from Delhi due to lack of work saying that the reports of reverse-migration have started pouring in.
He said there has been 88 to 90 per cent drop in retail sales and the production has been affected by as high as 80 per cent.
“The faulty implication of demonetization has affected all spheres of life but the daily wagers, ad-hoc employees and informal sector labour are the biggest sufferers, and this section constitutes a huge working population in Delhi,” said Maken.
Quoting the NSSO survey on Employment, Maken said as per the 68th Round between the year 2011 and 2012, the working population of Delhi was 57.06 lakh. “The data of Directorate of Employment, the Delhi Government reveals that the total number of workers in the organised sector was 8.43 lakh in 2009. This figure has remained almost consistent in the last one decade”, Maken noted.
He said that as per the 68th round NSSO survey, the population comprising of unorganised work force in Delhi is as high as 48.63 lakh, which is 85.33 per cent of the total work force. It is this 48.63 lakh informal/ unorganised work force which is on the verge of losing employment.
Maken said he is extremely concerned on two counts. First, the overwhelming majority of this 48.63 lakh unorganised/ informal work force is the first-generation migratory population.
Maken said if immediate steps are not taken to stop the reverse migration of the informal work force, it will take a long time for Delhi to come back to its normal routine.
Maken said the Delhi Government should immediately enter into a dialogue with Associations of Small Scale Industries, the Civil Contractors/ Builders Associations or associations representing employers of such entities, where these people work in large numbers. Even mapping them in un-authorised colonies or slum clusters or villages should be explored. These builders of modern Delhi must be protected at any cost.