Urban Poverty, Unorganised Sector and Migration Problem

This article talks about urban poor, their problems, unorganised sector and contribution of urban poor to unorganised or informal sector. It also discusses issue of migration and problems originated from it. The article also highlights current situation of reverse migration and what efforts are taken and what other steps can be taken overall for welfare of urban poor or employees of unorganised sector.

Background

Who are urban poor?

Unorganised sector of India

Statistics of India's unorganised sector

Problems of unorganised sector

Migration problem in India

Reverse migration

Current problems of labour

How to handle?

Reforms needed for unorganised sector

Background

World is facing COVID 19 crisis. Lockdown in India has been extended to 3rd May 2020. The current situation is very difficult for poor who do not have enough savings to trespass this lockdown period. They are getting impatient and are eager to go back to their homes in villages. Their eagerness and restlessness can undermine the real objective of lockdown. Honorable Supreme Court  says that "fear" and "panic" constitute bigger threat than COVID 19.

Who are urban poor?

Poverty is an inability to meet basic needs for survival. These basic needs include food, clothing and shelter. In India, every fourth person is poor who can be a landless labourer in village or labour in cities. Urban poor are those who reside and work in cities or urban areas. Urban poor include construction workers, child labour working in dhabas (Street side restaurants), beggars, vendors, cobblers, domestic labour, rag pickers, kabaadi wala (second hand shopper) etc. These people usually live in kaccha houses and possess little or negligible personal properties. Urban poor may be homeless or those living in slum areas. They are labour coming from different parts of country and constitute unorganised sector.

Unorganised sector of India

Ministry of Labour, Government of India has divided unorganised sector of India in to four types based on following:

Occupation

Nature of employment

Specially affected class

Service class

The people comprising above four categories are mentioned below:

Occupation

Small and marginal farmers, landless labour in agriculture, those rearing animals, bidi makers, labour in construction work

Nature of employment

Bonded labour, migrant labour, daily wage laborer

Specially affected class

Sweepers, head loaders etc

Service class

Domestic labour, barber, fruit sellers, vegetable sellers, newspaper distributors etc.

Statistics of India's unorganised sector

Unorganised sector of India is dominant over Indian labour market. They constitute almost 90% of all workforce of India. Unorganised sector or informal sector of employment is a linking bridge between urban India and rural India. This sector is a vast source of employment and is critical for both production & services.

India's unorganised sector or informal sector contributes 50% to national economic production. The workers of Indian unorganised sector constitute 97.1% of workforce in agriculture & farming sector,  74% of workforce in construction and 86.6% of workforce in trade, repair & accommodation. Their contribution in GVA to agriculture & farming sector is 17.2%, to construction is 7.8% and to trade, repair & accommodation is 11.8%.

*GVA - Gross Value Addition

Problems of unorganised sector

In spite of such immense contribution, people working in unorganised sector face various problems:

1. There is lack of socioeconomic security and health related security.
2. Unorganised sector is a sensitive class which lacks essentials. Women and children are more sensitive than men.
3. Wages are low and irregular.
4. There are no provisions for holidays, incentives for overtime, sick leave and other related issues.
5. Employment in informal sector is not secured. Workers can be fired anytime.
6. Labour can also be expelled seasonally if work load is less.
7. Moreover, retention of employees also depends on employers' choice.
8. The employees lack facilities which are present in organised sector like union of workers, regular work, compensation due to an accident etc. 

Migration problem in India

In India, people migrate from rural areas to urban areas. The major reason for such migration is search of employment. The other reasons may be lack of basic facilities in villages or rural areas like education, electricity, residence, communication, health, sanitation etc. Social discrimination and torture in rural areas can also be a reason for rural to urban migration. This migration increase population density in urban areas. Uncontrolled migration to cities create huge pressure on civic amenities in urban areas.

According to economic survey 2017, there are 139 million seasonal or circular migrants in India.

Data on migration published in 2019 based on 2011 census, Maharashtra is the most attractive destination for internal migration. There are 5.74 crore migrants in Maharashtra from states of UP, Bihar, Rajasthan etc. The other attractive states for migrants are Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh.

Reverse migration

Amidst lockdown imposed due to COVID 19 crisis, Indian labour of unorganised sector is witnessing reverse migration. It means people are migrating from urban areas to rural areas. 

Current problems of labour

The current situation is really worrisome. Those people who do not have even access to water sufficiently, how can they wash their hands frequently? They do not have access to masks and sanitizers. It is almost impossible to follow social distancing for those living in jhuggis due to space crunch. The labour class is hand to mouth. They earn daily and survive on that earning. In current situation of lockdown, they are not able to earn their bread. Neither they have savings to make payment for house rent. They are facing eviction from house owners. Thus, they are compelled to migrate back to their villages. These people are more prone to infection of novel corona virus. As per WHO, India ranks at 112 position in overall health system performance among 191 countries. Italy stands at 2nd position in this list. If a country like Italy has faced high death toll due to COVID 19 then for a country like India with much lesser health infrastructure, it would be really difficult to handle if it spreads. At this time, it is really challenging how to prevent migration of labour class.

How to handle?

In order to handle this critical situation, government, NGOs and society need to work collectively. Government should make arrangement to send labourers to their homes. At both center and state level, there should be legal obligation for their employment security. Their salaries should be directly transferred to their bank accounts. Already states and central government had declared relief packages. Delhi government declared a package of Rs 50 crore and announced double pensions. State also made arrangements for free lunches and free dinners for homeless. Similarly, some other states like Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Rajasthan declared urgent welfare measures for urban and rural poor. Central finance ministry has declared a relief packages of Rs 1.7 Crore. 

Reforms needed for unorganised sector

The unorganised sector of India need following reforms:

1. There is need of arrangement to correctly identify employees of unorganised sector so that they can access benefits of government's schemes and services.
2. There should be appropriate strategy for registration of companies hiring labour.
3. Workers of unorganised sector need their labour unions.
4. They should be made aware so that they can understand and present their demands.
5. Minimum wages should be timely paid.
6. The workers should be provided with health and social security.
7. They should be provided accidental compensation.
8. Their working hours should be fixed.
9. There should be arrangement for education of their children.

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