Lok Sabha Question No. 3855 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-24
Subject: Welfare and Social Security of Migrant Workers
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Shri Sudhakar Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3855 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.03.2025

## WELFARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY OF MIGRANT WORKERS

3855. SHRI SUDHAKAR SINGH:

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)the details of the steps taken by the Government to ensure the welfare, rights and social security of migrant labourers, particularly those from States like Bihar, which have a high outflow of migrant workers;
- (b)the  details  of  the  data  on  the  number  of  migrant  labourers registered under Government schemes including those benefiting from programmes like the e-Shram portal, One Nation One Ration
- Card (ONORC) and other labour welfare schemes, State-wise;
- (c)whether the Government has established any tracking mechanism to  monitor  working  conditions,  wages  and  safety  of  migrant labourers,  especially  those  employed  in  high-risk  industries  like construction,  manufacturing  and  agriculture,  if  so,  the  details thereof; and
- (d)the details of the measures taken/to be taken by the Government to ensure access to healthcare, housing and education for migrant labourers  and  their  families,  particularly  those  working  in  urban centres far from their home States?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE)

- (a) to (d): The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) Act, 1979 has been enacted to protect the interest of the migrant workers including those from Bihar.  The  Act  provides  for  registration  of  certain  establishments employing Inter State Migrant Workers, licensing of contractors etc. Workers  employed  with  such  establishments  are  to  be  provided payment  of  minimum  wages,  journey  allowance,  displacement allowance, residential accommodation, medical facilities and protective clothing etc.

This Act has been subsumed in the Occupational Safety, Health  and  Working  Conditions  (OSH)  Code,  2020.  The  OSH  Code, provides for decent working conditions, minimum wages, grievances redressal mechanisms, toll free helpline to migrant workers.

Ministry  of  Labour  &  Employment  has  launched  the eShram portal (eshram.gov.in) on 26 th  August 2021 for creation of a comprehensive  National  Database  of  the  Unorganised  Workers (NDUW), including migrant workers, seeded with Aadhaar.  eShram portal is meant to register and support the unorganised workers by providing  them  a  Universal  Account  Number  (UAN)  on  a  selfdeclaration basis.  As on 19.03.2025, over 30.71 crore unorganized workers, including migrant workers, are registered on eShram.

Ministry of Labour & Employment is sharing eShram data with all States/ UTs' Labour departments through Data Sharing Portal

(DSP) and/or Application Programming Interface (API).

In keeping with the vision of the Budget Announcement, 2024-25, on developing eShram as a "One-Stop-Solution" for unorganized  workers  to  have  access  to  various  social  security schemes, Ministry of Labour and Employment launched the eShram"One-Stop-Solution" on 21st October 2024. eShram-"One-StopSolution"  entails  integration  of  different  social  security/  welfare schemes  at  single  portal  i.e.  eShram.  This  enables  unorganised workers, including migrant workers, registered on eShram to access social  security  schemes  and  see  benefits  availed  by  them  so  far, through eShram.

So far, 13 schemes of different Central Ministries/Departments have already been integrated/ mapped with the  eShram  including  Pradhan  Mantri  Street  Vendors  Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM-SVANidhi), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee  Scheme  (MGNREGS),  Pradhan  Mantri  Awas  Yojana -Gramin  (PMAY-G),  Ayushman  Bharat  -  Pradhan  Mantri  Jan  Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban (PMAY-U) and  Pradhan  Mantri  Matsya  Sampada  Yojana  (PMMSY),  Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY).

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