Central government is going to launch National Portal for COVID-19 Affected Unorganized Migrant Workers. This online portal will keep a track of the migrant workers in the unorganised sector who are impacted due to a national-wide Coronavirus lockdown in India. Ministry of Labour and Employment will start this portal soon. The new portal will gather the details of all the unorganised sector workers who are stranded in relief camps, residential or industrial clusters.
Through the National Portal for COVID-19 Affected Unorganized Migrant Workers, govt. will pass on relief benefits to migrant workers. This may be in the form of cash transfer or through other means.
All the state governments have been asked to upload the details of all migrant workers including their aadhaar and bank accounts on the new portal.
National Portal for COVID-19 Affected Unorganized Migrant Workers
Till date, the Union government of India has gathered details of 2.2 million migrant workers across the country. The new National Portal for COVID-19 Affected Unorganized Migrant Workers will assign a registration number to all workers. At this portal, govt. will map migratory patterns by capturing the details of their native place. The govt. will also feed key details of such workers such as date of leaving the workplace, reason for the migration and the Covid-19 infection status.
All the workers would be able to register themselves on the National Portal for COVID-19 Affected Unorganized Sector Migrant Workers. The central govt. does not want to leave out any worker from the registration process.
Containment Zone Wise Data at National Portal for Coronavirus Affected Migrant Labourers
Industry would also be allowed to put containment zone wise data of COVID-19 affected migrant workers on the portal too. For each industry, the central govt. is attempting to do a skill mapping of the employees residing in red, orange and green zones through the portal. This National Portal for COVID-19 Affected migrant workers will help industry to get sense of proximity of workers to an industrial zone.
The central govt. has now allowed resumptions of economic activities starting from 20 April 2020 in rural areas and industrial zones where the incidence of Covid-19 infections is low. The govt. has allowed migrant workers stranded in relief camps to go to work within the state they are currently present. All the workers will get screened first before giving permission to workers to travel to work.
Many state governments such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Haryana are planning to bring workers belonging to their states back to their homes. After the nation-wide lockdown enforcement on 25 March 2020, around 5 to 6 lakh migrant workers were estimated to have walked back home. The central govt. has set up several shelter homes to accommodate workers to ensure that they do not leave. There are around 1.04 million workers residing in 26,476 relief camps.