Issues and Challenges of Migrant Workers in Covid Era: Empirical Study

Abstract

A migrant worker is one who moves from one place to another in search of employment. The migration may be temporary, seasonal or permanent. The right to livelihood is contained in Right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. In search of livelihood, the workers travel from one state to another or even one country to another. The study in the present paper is limiting the study of migrant workers within the country. In the process of migration, many issues come into the picture, like safety and security of workers, difficulty in adjusting to different cultural diversity, linguistic issues, exclusion from social entitlement, social and political exclusion, housing facility and exploitation, etc. These migrant workers come under the unorganised sector. There are various social security schemes that Central and State Government have launched for workers, but there is a lack of implementation in different establishments due to different reasons. The primary problem migrant workers face is not getting benefit of certain social security schemes due to not registering when they migrate to other states for employment. The main issue behind the same is the lack of literacy. As the country is facing the corona crisis, therefore the conditions of migrant workers have more deteriorated. They are one of the most affected communities. Though the government, social workers, and NGO’s are trying to help them out but still the problem is ongoing. In this study, an attempt has been made to highlight the issues and challenges of migrant workers in the covid era with measures like employing in their state, setting up various establishments in their home state etc, to overcome the same.