Working At the Margins
A report on the working conditions of the invisiblized frontline workers
PATTERNS OF MIGRATION IN KARNATAKA 2020
Foreword by the Director
Following one of the most draconian and ruthless lockdowns that any country has
introduced for the Covid-19 outbreak, in May 2020, more than 1.19 lakh documented
(Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) data) migrant workers travelled
from Bengaluru to their homes in northern parts of Karnataka, mostly Kalaburgi, Yadgir,
Koppal and Bidar districts.
During the lockdown the State government has been lax in fulfilling many of its major
responsibilities around food, education, public transport, healthcare etc., but it chose to
“control” the pandemic primarily by targeting some of the most vulnerable and
marginalised citizens of the State, such as the migrant workers. The State was even ready
to impose draconian measures such as police force and stopping train/bus services under
duress by the real estate and other business interests, to prevent workers from going
back home. The decision to resume trains was made only after vocal criticism of the
government by trade unions, civil society groups and the Opposition parties.
Several thousand migrant labourers from North Karnataka region come to work in the
construction and other industry in Bengaluru. Migration for labour is highest among the
Scheduled caste communities and most uncommon among socially privileged categories
More than 50% workers earn less than Rs. 6000/month and more than 68% of migrant
workers from socially marginalised SC, ST and OBC caste are landless with landless SC
being the highest proportion. Escape from caste discrimination in their native villages
and lack of access to basic facilities is a big reason for migration. Even if they do own
small land holdings, they are unable to grow a second crop because of the arid weather.
Many people were neither paid by their employers nor by the state government.
Although the Chief Minister of Karnataka had announced a total of Rs. 5000 for the 15.8
lakh registered construction workers, many of them hadn’t received it and many
thousand others are not even registered. It was mainly the support of civil society that
offered some relief to the workers and some recourse to go back to their homes.
There is no robust data on numbers of migrant workers, where they work or their
working conditions. It is as though beyond their services the workers are themselves of
no consequences. The workers do not have access to most of the social security schemes
such as Public Distribution System (PDS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
Scheme or the Mid-day meal scheme. Their accesss to healthcare schemes is also
unclear. In the absence of data, interventions cannot be planned and definitely no
grievance redressal if they face exploitation, abuse, labour law violation, harassment etc.
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Those who went back to their villages were not readily offered work under the Mahatma
Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as they should have been. The
government should have been cogninsant of the fact that 50 thousand people traveling
back would need immedate access to livelihood and basics such as water, shelter, food,
education etc.
Now again, pushed by poverty and looming unemployment in northern Karnataka
districts, many of the migrant workers are coming back to Bangalore in search of jobs,
inspite of the rising number of cases of Covid and the poor treatment that had been
meted out to them earlier.
It is important that the government understand this and work to strengthening people’s
access to dignity and essential services. This is a good opportunity for the government
and bureacurats to introspect into the reasons for large scale migration to the city and
whether this can be alleviated by more decentralised planning, keeping the most
vulnerable communities as the focus. Those who stay back need investment into their
requirements and those who migrate to Bangalore also need a different kind of support.
Ashirvad Social Concern, Bengaluru has put together this report in the hope that it will
initiate this process. It help us understand the main reasons for migration and also that
more than half (52.72%) of the individuals interviewed belonged to Scheduled Caste
communities, followed by Hindu Other Backward Classes castes ( 21%) and Scheduled
Tribes comprised 7.26%. 32.8% migrated to Bangalore with an average income of
461.5/day but only 6.25% of the respondents who reported working in the construction
sector had a construction labour card.
I thank our partners mentioned below for painstakingly collecting this data from Bijapur,
Raichur, Haveri and Uttara kannada, inspite of the difficulties of the pandemic and
lockdown. I thank Siddharth KJ for collating the report.
Looking forward to change in a positive direction.
Fr. Jerald D’Souza
Director, Ashirvad Centre for Social Concern