I am here to elaborate upon those shatters of the unorganized workers! If you go to the Warje Bridge (in Pune) at 9 in the morning, what you will find is a herd of people hungry for employment every morning! The number of these naka workers, specifically the daily wage workers, goes beyond 4 crores across India, according to the India wage report of the International Labour Organisation. Most of them are migrant workers due to various reasons such as lack of opportunity, infrastructural gaps, lack of land for agriculture, and many other things. They move to cities to get employment, but what they get is being exploited! A carpenter is working on a construction site as a mason for wages even lower than the government's declared minimum wage according to the Minimum Wages Act, of 1948. But he still works even more than the maximum number of hours permitted legally. That too without any job security in very unsafe working conditions where the contractors do not take responsibility for the damages to the workers in case of any mishap on the site. The only reason he is doing that is to feed his family! Such workers in the unorganized sector are switching profiles every day. They have to confront numerous obstacles daily. Irregular work is seen everywhere. As there is no educational qualification in the unorganized sector, these workers are hired solely on the basis of their physical capabilities, and here we can see pervasive discrimination based on gender! The women in this sector either do not get employment or get a wage rate much lower than their male counterparts. If we look at the LGBTQIA+ community, there total population in India is nearly 7 crores but not even 1% of it can get a job in the organised sector due to the discrimination in the society.
The Keynesian theory of unemployment tells us that exploitation is the ultimate result of
unemployment. The core reason behind increasing exploitation is the state of unawareness
among the workers. If I don’t know what the Minimum Wage Act is, how am I
supposed to ask for it? But when people like Datta Samant stand for 2.5
lakh laborers, it makes a difference. The labor strikes of 1982–83 in Mumbai
played a crucial role in the lives of workers in the unorganized sector. Though
they did not achieve what they asked for, it spread awareness among the
laborers on a large scale. Not just Datta Samant even Gandhiji fought
for the rights of textile mill workers in Gujrat in 1918. That movement was
popularly known as the Ahmedabad Mill Satyagraha. This shows that the problem
is deeply rooted in India, but we are still not able to cater to it.
The constitution has had provisions for the prohibition of child labor in Article 24 for the last 75 years, but still, I saw a 12-year-old boy today at a tea stall cleaning counter in this metropolitan city. No doubt there will be hundreds of such ‘chotus’ working in rural areas. We say that the government has been running welfare schemes for these people but what is the ground reality? NULM, The National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM), under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, had too many unrealistic goals that were never implemented by the state governments. The Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana claims to be beneficial for the unorganized sector but if we look at it in the long term, it is not beneficial for people who cannot afford to save money. Also, you tell me is a pension of just Rs.3000 sufficient for the survival of the entire family for 30 days? Similarly, the most famous labor welfare scheme of MGNREGA promises employment for 100 days. But what after those 100 days? That is a very short-term solution and we cannot rely on it. The Ministry of Labour has created a portal for spreading awareness about all the schemes helpful for unorganized workers. But a person who can't even read and write is not capable enough to register himself on that eShram portal! However, we must acknowledge those who are registered. According to the Ministry of Labour, as of June 2023, this number has gone up to 28 crores out of which many have benefited from the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, Awas Yojana, and a few more.
As a way forward, we need to think of policies that will help the young crowd from the unorganized sector to move towards the organized sector. Because the supply of workers in the unorganized sector is much more than the demand. Thus moving the youth towards the organized sector would lead to a decrease in unemployment. The first and foremost is education. We can educate and upskill them in a particular profile. We can carry out training workshops by going to their localities. As Article 19 of the constitution gives everyone the right to form unions, we can also spread awareness among the workers regarding their rights and encourage them to form trade unions. It will benefit them to fight for getting adequate wages. Thus, if we fulfill the needs of the unorganized sector and fuel its growth, it will definitely turn out to be an asset for our economy, for society, and ultimately for the nation.
- Aditi Bhavsar
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