Admitting inefficiency in the existing policy to deal with labour migration from Jharkhand and its failure in providing adequate security to them, the State Government has decided to come up with new set of legislation altogether. The policy would fill in the vacant spaces left besides, hitting hard on the root cause behind the mass migration trends.
“It is a cause of worry for the Government and we have initiated steps for safe release of labourers trapped in Malaysia. But at the same time, I have no hesitation in admitting that the system in place of migrant labour registration is not much rewarding either and has failed in dealing with mass level outgoing. Soon after the festival, we would sit and formulate a new policy to deal with the burning issue,” labour and Employment Minister Raj Paliwar told The Pioneer on Tuesday.
The Minister also went on narrating the missing links in the existing policy and blamed the lengthy system of registration as migrant labour for the incidents like that. “We would have to look at a larger issue which is massive migration happening from Jharkhand. We want to hit hard on the root causes behind labour migration and the new policy would ensure that labour migration does not take place at all from the State. We are deliberating upon the issue and have found that the system of registration as labourers before going out is needed to be simplified further. It also allows or sometime forces people to slip out of the net. Migrants often go in search of livelihood without registering with the Government and when something untoward happens they came seeking assistance,” added Paliwar referring to the incident.
The State has a scheme in place for migrant labour registration for which two types of cards are issued. The enrollment provides cover of Rs1.50 lakh for a registered migrant labourer in case of death or disability. Nevertheless, the State is yet to act on large scale unemployment rampant in rural areas that goes even worse in the event of crop failure. Jharkhand’s paper on 12th plan for 2012-17 with erstwhile Planning Commission had also blamed poor employment opportunities for labour migration.