National Migrant Workers Database

The Standing Committee headed by the senior Congress leader Anand Sharma recently submitted a report “Management of COVID-19 pandemic and related issues”. The committee has suggested that the National Migrant Workers Database should be collated at the earliest.

In September 2020, the Government of India had expressed its interest to set up a National Migrant Workers Database. This was announced by the Labour Ministry in Rajya Sabha.

National Migrant Workers Database

• The database is to be created based on the twelve-digit Aadhaar number. The number will act a social security coverage to the migrants.
• All the unorganised workers will also be included separately in the database to help them get employment.
• The committee has recommended that the database should have details of skill set of the workers. Also, it should hold details of origin and destination state of the migrant workers
• The database will help to track the movement of the migrants.
• It will help the origin state and destination state to plan welfare measures including social security measures.

What is the plan?

The initial registration of the migrant workers into the database is to be done with the available data existing under One Nation, One Ration Card scheme and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Also, the data from State Insurance Corporation and Employees Provident Fund Organization are to be used.

The data is to undergo de-duplication exercise using Aadhaar data.

Background

The issue of lack of data of migrants was raised when the Government of India was caught for its unawareness of not having data of the stranded workers or the number of migrants that died while travelling back home during the lockdown.

Other Recommendations of Anand Sharma Committee

• The Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the Epidemics Diseases Act, 1897 are insufficient.
• The committee has recommended to amend the provisions of Epidemics Diseases Act, 1897. The act predates even the Spanish Flu of 1918. The act was introduced to tackle Bubonic Plague of 1890.

National Database of Unorganised Workers

On November 10, 2020, the Ministry of Finance approved the creation of National Database of Unorganised Workers. This is different from the National Database of Migrant Workers. The National Database of Migrant Workers is still a proposal and is being recommended strongly.
On the other hand, the National Database of Unorganised Workers is already under implementation. The GoI has allocated Rs 650 crores to create the National Database of Migrant Workers. The National Database of Unorganised Workers will include migrants separately.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2020