Lok Sabha Question No. 3376 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-16
Subject: Distress Migration
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Umesh G. Jadhav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3376 ANSWERED ON 16.03.2021

## DISTRESS MIGRATION

## 3376.   DR. UMESH G. JADHAV:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  study  recently  on  the  levels  of  distress migration in the country from rural areas and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the rate of distress migration is higher from the rural areas of certain States than the others, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
- (c) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  apart  from  the  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), in order to reduce distress migration?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) & (b) : Government has not conducted any study recently on level of distress migration in the country from rural areas. However, migration of workers from one State to another State is a continuous process and the migrant workers keep on moving from one State to other States in search of work. As per the information provided by Ministry of Labour & Employment, on the basis of data  reported by  the States/UTs, during the Covid-19 situation, a total of 1,14,30,968 inter-state migrant workers returned to their home states. State-wise break up is enclosed at the Annexure .

(c): The Ministry of Rural Development, inter alia, is implementing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Deen Dayal Upadhyay - Gramin Kaushalya Yojana  (DDU-GKY),  Rural  Self  Employment  Training  Institutes  (RSETIs),  Pradhan  Mantri Awaas  Yojana  -  Gramin  (PMAY-G),  Pradhan  Mantri  Gram  Sadak  Yojana  (PMGSY)  and National  Social  Assistance  Programme  (NSAP)  to  bring  about  overall  improvement  in  the quality  of  life  of  the  people  in  rural  areas  through  employment  generation,  strengthening  of livelihood opportunities, development of infrastructure in rural areas, promoting selfemployment, skilling of rural youths, provision of social assistance and other basic amenities.

Besides the schemes/ programmes of MoRD mentioned above, major schemes of other Ministries  for  generating  employment and skill  development of the rural  population are  given below:

( i) . Prime Minister's Employment Generation (PMEGP): The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises  has  been  implementing  a  credit-linked  subsidy  programme  named  Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) since 2008-09 with Khadi and Village

Industries Commission (KVIC) as nodal agency at the national level for generating employment in  the  country  by  setting  up  of  micro-enterprises  in  the  non-farm  sector  by  helping  traditional artisans and unemployed youth.

(ii)  Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY): The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) had launched Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) in the year 2015. The objective of this Skill Certification Scheme is to enable a large number of Indian Youth to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood. Individuals with prior learning experience or skills will also be assessed and certified under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) component of the Scheme. RPL mainly focuses on the individuals engaged in unregulated sectors.

All  these  measures  encourage  people  in  rural  areas  to  earn  their  livelihood  and  raise  their quality of life near their places of residence and hence, act as a deterrent to migration of rural population to cities.

Apart from the above, in order to safeguard the interest of the migrant workers, the Central Government  had  enacted  the  Inter-state  Migrant  Workmen  (Regulation  of  Employment  and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979. This Act has now been subsumed in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code has been notified on 29.09.2020.  The above mentioned code commonly known as OSH Code, provides for decent working conditions, minimum  wages,  grievances  redressal  mechanisms,  protection  from  abuse  and  exploitation, enhancement  of  the  skills  and  social  security  to  all  category  of  organized  and  unorganized workers  including  Migrant workers.  The  Code  is  applicable  to  every  establishment in  which 10 or  more  inter-state  migrant  workers  are  employed  or  were  employed  on  any  day  of  the preceding 12 months.

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## Annexure referred in the statement in the reply to part (a) & (b) of Lok Sabha Question No. 3376 due for answer on 16.03.2021 regarding 'Distress Migration'

526900

| SL No   | Name of the State                  | No. of Migrant workers belonging to the State who have returned to their home State *   |
|---------|------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh                     | 32,571                                                                                  |
| 2       | Andaman and Nicobar                | 4,960                                                                                   |
| 3       | Arunachal Pradesh                  | 2,871                                                                                   |
| 4       | Assam                              | 4,26,441                                                                                |
| 5       | Bihar                              | 15,00,612                                                                               |
| 6       | Chandigarh                         | 39230                                                                                   |
| 7       | Chhattisgarh                       | 526900                                                                                  |
| 8       | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu | 43,747                                                                                  |
| 9       | Delhi                              | 2,047                                                                                   |
| 10      | Goa                                | 85620                                                                                   |
| 11      | Gujarat                            | 0                                                                                       |
| 12      | Haryana                            | 1,289                                                                                   |
| 13      | Himachal Pradesh                   | 18,652                                                                                  |
| 14      | Jammu &Kashmir                     | 48,780                                                                                  |
| 15      | Jharkhand                          | 5,30,047                                                                                |
| 16      | Karnataka                          | 1,34,438                                                                                |
| 17      | Kerala                             | 3,11,124                                                                                |
| 18      | Ladakh                             | 50                                                                                      |
| 19      | Lakshadweep                        | 456                                                                                     |
| 20      | Madhya Pradesh                     | 7,53,581                                                                                |
| 21      | Maharashtra                        | 1,82,990                                                                                |
| 22      | Manipur                            | 12,338                                                                                  |
| 23      | Meghalaya                          | 4,266                                                                                   |
| 24      | Mizoram                            | 8446                                                                                    |
| 25      | Nagaland                           | 11,750                                                                                  |
| 26      | Odisha                             | 853,777                                                                                 |
| 27      | Puducherry                         | 1,694                                                                                   |
| 28      | Punjab                             | 5,15,642                                                                                |
| 29      | Rajasthan                          | 13,08,130                                                                               |
| 30      | Sikkim                             | 33,015                                                                                  |
| 31      | Tamil Nadu                         | 72,145                                                                                  |
| 32      | Telangana                          | 37,050                                                                                  |
| 33      | Tripura                            | 34,247                                                                                  |
| 34      | Uttar Pradesh                      | 32,49,638                                                                               |
| 35      | Uttarakhand                        | 1,97,128                                                                                |
| 36      | West Bengal                        | 13,84,693                                                                               |
|         | Total                              | 1,14,30,968                                                                             |