Nagpur’s Informal Labour Markets
- By Ayush Nanda and Abhishek Chaurasia--
- May 19, 2020
Informal Labor, Migration, MSMEs
Background: Nagpur is the third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune. The population of Nagpur is estimated to be around 28 lakhs and the size of informal labor is close to 7.5 lakhs. According to 2011 census there were around 10 lakh migrants in Nagpur city of which close to 7 lakhs are intrastate migrants a total of 3 lakhs are interstate migrants, majority of which are from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The city has a variety of industries, viz. services, manufacturing, construction, healthcare, mining and others but MSMEs and Construction sector are the worst hit by the outbreak; resulting in severe job losses. An exodus of migrants was seen travelling on foot, bicycles and private vehicles to their native places. Now with government’s nod to allow people to leave the city, migration has started in full swing. Government has arranged buses and trains for them but it seems inadequate and too little too late.
Migrants situation and informal market: Nagpur city is home to around 2-3 lakh migrant laborers. Earlier in the month 14,000 migrants registered with the local administration to leave the city. As per a news report 66000 migrant workers are stranded in Nagpur in 280 shelter homes. Most of them are contract workers working in construction, power loom, jewelry etc.
|
Division |
Shelter homes |
No. of workers |
|
Nagpur city |
275 |
49113 |
|
Nagpur rural |
05 |
16561 |
|
Total |
280 |
65674 |
It is estimated that 50000 workers walked away from shelter homes. Nagpur city police in association with NGOs have been able to ferry 13,346 labors with the help of 400+ private/ government buses to their native places. Around 8600 have left the city via Shramik special trains whereas the data of ones who left on foot or by private vehicles is still unknown. Given this information if one were to estimate the number of migrants who left the city or will do it in future it would be close to 1.5 lakh. Which leaves us to a conclusion that over 60-70% of migrant workers are still stuck in the city. As per a media report as many as 60000 people have lost their job in Nagpur city. It is the largest bullion market in central India. There are around 20000 artisans in the city who make gold ornaments including milling, knitting and dye cutting, most of them are from West Bengal and work on contract basis. They are unable to get any work due to the outbreak resulting in huge financial crisis for them. There are many such stories of apathy running around in circles and will we be able to address them all, only time will tell.
Policy response: With an aim to provide jobs to the marginalized and reviving the MSMEs which employs most of these workers a focused policy response is the need of the hour. Restarting industries out of red zone, a decision by state industry minister is a great start. Nagpur district now has over 1200 units running employing around 25,000 workers. Three lakh crore collateral free loans for MSMEs as announced by Finance Minister will provide them the equity support needed in this time of stress. “One nation one ration card” as announced by the government would also be a great leap forward in providing social security to migrant laborers. Free ration to migrant workers for 3 months even without ration card are all welcome policy interventions that would go a long way in the Post COVID world.
Data Sources:
https://www.nagpurtoday.in/nagpur-police-rejoin-over-13000-migrant-workers-with-their-families/051418573. https://www.esakal.com/vidarbha-news/nagpur/deprived-benefits-2918644. http://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/epaper.lokmat/eNewspaper/News/LOKTIME/CPLS/2020/05/05/ArticleImages/1CC77C7.jpg
Ayush Nanda
Abhishek Chaurasia