Legal Framework for Protection of Migrants

The ‘Working Group on Migration’ set by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation 2015 has recommended necessary legal and policy framework to protect the interests of the migrants in the country, stating that the migrant population makes substantial contribution to economic growth and their Constitutional rights need to be secured.

The Recommendations

  • The Protocols of the Registrar General of India needs to be amended to enable caste based enumeration of migrants so that they can avail the attendant benefits in the States to which migration takes place.
  • Migrants should be enabled to avail benefits of Public Distribution System (PDS) in the destination State by providing for inter-State operability of PDS.
  • The vast network of post offices needs to be made effective use of by reducing the cost of transfer of money to avoid informal remittances.
  • Migrants should be enabled to open bank accounts by asking banks to adhere to RBI guidelines regarding Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and not insist on documents that were not required.
  • The hugelyunderutilized Construction Workers Welfare Cess Fund should be used to promote rental housing, working Women Hostels etc., for the benefit of migrants.

Constitutional Rights of Migrants

  • Referring to Constitutional Right of ‘Freedom of Movement and Residence’ in any part of the territory of the country, the Group suggested that States should be encouraged to proactively eliminate the requirement of domicile status to prevent any discrimination in work and employment.
  • States are also to be asked to include migrant children in the Annual Work Plans under SarvaSiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to uphold their Right to Education.

Status of Migrants in India

  • Quoting data of Census 2011 and National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the Group stated that migrants constitute about 30% of the country’s population and also of the total working force.
  • The recent Economic Survey noted that annual migration in the country increased from 3.30 million in 2011 to 9.00 million in 2016.

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