E-Paper
No plan to mandate state nod for hiring workers: UP official
The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government is working on the framework of a commission that will seek to provide jobs and job security to migrant workers returning to the
The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government is working on the framework of a commission that will seek to provide jobs and job security to migrant workers returning to the state, but has no plans to incorporate in its by-laws a provision that will require other states to seek its prior permission before employing people from UP.
Amid the lockdown imposed to curb the coronavirus disease that left them stranded elsewhere in India without livelihoods, about 2.6 million migrant workers have already returned to UP, where the authorities plan to carry out an exercise to map their skills to help them find jobs.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday discussed the setting up of the commission at a meeting in Lucknow and told his officials to complete the skill mapping exercise in 15 days. Adityanath said a letter should be sent to all state governments to find out about more migrant workers wishing to come back to Uttar Pradesh.
“The chief minister discussed the modalities for setting up the commission as well. There will be no provision requiring other states to seek UP government’s prior permission for employing our manpower. The commission is being set up to provide jobs and social security to the workers. We will also link the migrants to the government schemes to provide them houses and loans etc,” said a senior official who didn’t want to be named.
On Sunday, Adityanath told journalists by a video link that the commission would work in the interest of migrant workers.
“If any other state wants UP’s manpower, they cannot take them away just like that but will have to seek permission of the UP government,” he said. “The way our migrant workers were ill-treated in other states, the UP government will take their insurance and social security in its hands now. The state government will stand by them wherever they work, whether in Uttar Pradesh, other states or other countries.”
Some political leaders and experts have questioned the proposal that would require other states to seek the UP government’s permission, saying it would run contrary to the right to freedom of movement of workers.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday termed the proposal “absolutely absurd.”
“I think it’s unfortunate. I think people are first Indian and then they belong to their states. The decision on whether somebody goes to work from Uttar Pradesh to the rest of the country is not the chief minister’s. It is of the people of India and the people of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
Adityanath was deeply moved by the conditions of returning migrants, the official cited above said, explaining the CM’s comment.
“Uttar Pradesh’s migration commission is bound to incorporate the provisions of the Centre’s Inter State Migrant Workmen Act 1979. The Centre’s Act provides for a licence to be issued to the recruitment agencies in the state from where the workers are being taken following recruitment. It also has provisions for registration of the employer in the state where the workers will be taken for employment,” said the official.
The proposed migration commission can work as a welfare body and watch the interests of workers, said CB Pandey, a legal expert. “But most of the migrant workers are employed in the unorganized sector. The state government can regulate only the recruitment agencies, if any. In more than 99% of cases, no recruitment agencies are involved. A majority of workers of the unorganized sector look for jobs through their acquaintances or family members and regulating them may not be possible.”
