MP Migrant Worker Project: Tracking the fate of migrants returning to Madhya Pradesh amid the pandemic [Read Report]

The summer of 2020 was like no other. As the heat scorched and a pandemic plagued, many of us watched, horrified, as caravans of our cities’ workforce (‘the migrants’) made the arduous journey back to their home States. Many of them were driven home by unemployment in the cities, while others dreaded the pandemic..In the wake of the mass ‘exodus’ of migrants from the cities, the Apex Court directed state governments to maintain records of returning migrants, details about their skills and other details at various tiers of the Government to ensure that State aid effectively reached them.."You cannot say everything is fine in the State of Maharashtra", Supreme Court directs state to find out problems related to Migrant Crisis.Curious about the outcomes of the Supreme Court’s directions, two recently-graduated law students discussed ways of finding out how the migrants had fared after their return home and the steps taken by the State to re-employ and rehabilitate them..Naming their initiative the M.P. Migrant Project, the two law graduates, Rakshita Agarwal (NLU-O ’20) and Rohit Sharma (NUJS ’20) teamed up with their friend Lakshay, an engineering student, and decided to survey the stream of migrants who were returning to Madhya Pradesh..The preface to the Project Report states, ."...we aim to draw everyone’s attention to the plight of these migrant workers and highlight the most pressing issues which require immediate attention. We further hope that the findings will prompt speedy relief action and encourage the development of a sustainable model for upcoming months to ensure that the employment conditions of these migrant workers are improved and they lead a life of dignity...”.The team contacted the Chief Secretary of the State of Madhya Pradesh to table a database of returning migrants and also used data collected by the Zenith Center for Socio-Legal Empowerment (one of the finalists for this year’s Agami Prize), where Rohit had been working over the summer..Aided by Zenith, around 50 volunteers contacted 35,000 migrants spread out across the State’s 52 districts to collect information on:Demographies,The extent of monetary assistance received,Unemployment levels,Change in earning patterns,Compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions and,Whether the migrants desired to leave their homes for work..For the project, the team surveyed migrants returning from the State of Maharashtra. Out of the 60,000+ migrants who returned from the State of Maharashtra, the team chose a pool of 30,000+..It proved no mean task. Many of the recent returnees refused to speak to the investigators. Others raged in frustration or burst into tears on the slightest inquiry into their plight. A few of them expressed their anguish at the system and their plight. Many volunteers (around 150) left the project, disheartened by the stories they were hearing and the kind of responses they were receiving..“It was mentally taxing … For every 1 response we called around 8 people“Rohit Sharma, one of the Coordinators at the Project.Finally, a pool of 3,000 returnees was questioned for the complete survey and 1,500 for the pilot..The data analysed in the pilot survey presents a sorry figure..The survey reveals that 56.5% of the migrant labourers continue to remain unemployed, four months since their return to the State and that the majority of them have migrated again from the State. .585 out of the 1,291 people surveyed (around 45.3%) were not even aware of a single employment scheme that had been introduced for them. A whopping 90% of them had not received the monetary relief that had been promised them. Most of them were not comfortable leaving their homes for work but stated that unemployment was driving them to move out from the State..Most of those interviewed appreciated the government for the assistance received from the State while travelling back to the State..Pertinently, the survey revealed that much of the Supreme Court’s directions has not effectively been followed..While the complete report is slated for released shortly, their work has not gone unnoticed..However, much work still remains, they say, as they present their findings at various levels of government. Much of the remaining work lies in opening up avenues for the rehabilitation and employment of the newly-returned migrants. The Team have already begun urging local bodies to rehabilitate and employ the migrants, using their findings from the pilot survey for the effort..“... we hope that an initiative like this will motivate others from our community to take steps in their respective cities and make lives of these migrant workers better. We firmly believe that if we can do this, they can too.”Rakshita Agarwal, one of the coordinators at the Project.Read the Pilot Survey Report: