JANTA KA FAISLA

1. Background

2. Our Vision and Approach

3. Detailed Orders on various interventions related to Migrant Workers

4. Our Feedback on Chattisgarh Antar-rajyeey Prawasi Shramik Neeti

5. Our Voices

JANTA KA FAISLA: July 11th to 15th 2021

1. BACKGROUND

We, 17 migrant workers from Chattisgarh who were jurors over the past 4 days in a Janta Ka Faisla (a citizens’ jury) in Raipur, heard twenty eight expert witnesses and advocates before coming up with our final verdict. The advocates and witnesses were drawn from Chattisgarh government, from industry, from civil society and from within the community of migrant workers. Nine of them are from Chattisgarh, and three are from organisations that also work in Chattisgarh. We also listened to and interacted with two Cabinet Ministers in Chattisgarh government who joined the Janta Ka Faisla as Special Guests. The jury process focused on distress-driven migration and did not dwell on migration when opportunities present themselves. Based on our own lives, we believe that most migration out of Chattisgarh is distress-related migration. All of us are ones who migrate out of distress, not because opportunities have opened up for us.  

We come from various districts of Chattisgarh including Rajnandgaon, Surguja, Bilaspur, Mahasamund, Janjgir Champa, Jashpur and Raigarh. From amongst us, 6 are women. Eight of us are in the age group of 20-29 years and another six are in the age group of 30 - 44 years. Twelve of us have land in the families, though the land title is not necessarily in our names. Ten of us live in villages that have access to forest resources. There are 5 of us who have no access to forests, neither do the families own any land. In terms of migration, there are some of us who have been migrating out for many years now, and going to different states (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and Tamil Nadu), at different times. We have also worked in multiple sectors like construction, manufacturing, agriculture, domestic work, other services etc. Five of us are from dalit communities, four from adivasi communities, 6 from OBCs and 3 from minority religious groups.

Between all of us, we have decades of experience of being migrant workers, and what happens from the time we leave our homes till we return back. These are mainly bitter experiences of different kinds. Some of us have not been paid at all for the hard toil of blood and sweat that we put in, and we put in that hard work hoping to get out of our distress! Some of us have been subjected to violence. Some of us have been moved from one thekedar to the other without our knowledge. We faced hunger. We stayed without a roof on our heads at times. We worked for long hours, way beyond an 8-hour work day.  

All of us are new to this process of deliberative democracy and it is a huge learning and empowering opportunity for us.

2. VERDICT: OUR VISION AND APPROACH

If our livelihoods are secured, we would not like to migrate out of our villages. Further, for our future generations, we want our children to stay in villages but not go through the hardships that we are going through. They should be educated and should be salaried. Our next generations should not be exploited like we have been.

The government should take all preventive steps to make sure that no one needs to migrate from their homes. These measures should be such that in our own villages, we are able to get incomes that are equal to what we get elsewhere by migrating. And if there are still people migrating for any reason, we want all those who are migrating out for work to be supported with all entitlements and full protection.  

For us, a Migrant Worker is one who left her/his home, singly or with family members, to work elsewhere (within Chattisgarh or outside Chhattisgarh) for more than a week within the past five years, for work in any sector, skilled or unskilled. Within this definition of “Migrant Worker” are those who are more vulnerable than others. Those who do not have a house / own land / a ration card sufficient for the whole family, are to be treated with priority. Within the migrant workers, there are different categories and different kinds of vulnerabilities.

The Jury believes that migrant workers have contributed immensely for nation-building, but have not been supported adequately. Most cities in India have been built, and they run on a day-to-day basis mainly because of the services that we had provided in building those urban centres, at a great cost to ourselves. We have remained largely invisible until the covid pandemic-related lockdown in 2020.

We assert that migrant workers of India are not citizens of one state, but are citizens of the country. Therefore, we need our rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India wherever we are.

We also want policy makers and others to know that migrant workers are not one category of workers. Our issues and problems vary depending on which sector of work we are engaged in, our socio-economic background, the destination locations we end up in, on whether we go as families or as individuals and so on. Women migrant workers are particularly vulnerable in numerous ways.

The jury got to hear about adivasis being the largest group of migrant workers in the country, and this needs to be taken special note of. The jury believes that priority attention has to be given to adivasi regions and within that, specially vulnerable tribal communities.

Women face additional and special vulnerabilities when they migrate out for work. There is sexual harassment and violence that women migrant workers face. There are hardly any facilities available at work sites that women need. Women face a lot of discrimination in terms of work options and wage disparities. These vulnerabilities apply to transgender persons too.  

We got to hear that from Chattisgarh, there is a very large number of people who have gone ‘missing’ and there is no information to the families, communities or the government about where the missing people are. They need to be traced immediately. 

Migrant workers are a group of unorganised workers, and for all unorganised sector workers, there have been many vexatious problems unresolved for decades. This Jury believes that there should be a minimum bar of entitlements and services for all citizens of India including us, and that the government is squarely accountable if such a bar is not met.

There are several of us who do not have basic resources and entitlements. Landlessness, lack of livelihood opportunities and absence of entitlements like PDS ration card or NREGS card have led to migration. Poor people like us cannot pay bribes to get access to these entitlements and that is what leads to exclusion from schemes and services.

We find that several schemes have been designed to exclude those who do not utilise them, little realising that lack of use does not mean lack of need. In fact, it is an acute need that would have driven a person into migration. But that very migration results in lack of utilisation of a scheme and this in turn excludes us from the scheme. We also find that sometimes, schemes come tied with each other. We believe that these kinds of scheme designs have actually resulted to an extent to our migration, and this should be addressed.

Further, indebtedness during the pandemic has increased the need for migration. SHG and microfinance loans are also difficult to repay and the government has not paid attention to this.

Lack of awareness on many things that pertain to our lives is leading to greater distress. There is no proactive sharing of information from the government.

3. DETAILED ORDERS ON VARIOUS INTERVENTIONS RELATED TO MIGRANT WORKERS

1. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND INTEGRATION INTO LOCAL SOCIETIES

We have to be organised for our rights. We want to create a sangathan. The sangathan is open for all without any discrimination against anyone based on religion, caste, political affiliation etc. We will need social workers and activists to support the workers’ union, including legal experts. We need the labour department of the government also to recognize us. We need a federation of the organisations across states.

People in India, including the poorest, have the power of influencing policies through their votes. There should be a system for us, like the one that exists for defence personnel who get to vote through postal ballot.

Where we go, local communities do not respect us. They need to improve their sensitivity towards us. We will join their cultural events to integrate ourselves better with local communities at the destination end.

3. ENTITLEMENTS TO FOOD SECURITY, HEALTHCARE, SOCIAL SECURITY

Public Distribution System

1.        Portability of rations - there is a need for a systematic database of all migrant workers’ names so that when we go anywhere in the country to a local ration shop, we should get the rations.

2.        Food security is not enough, and the focus should be on nutrition security. Such nutrition security requires Dal, Millets and Oil to be added to PDS rations.

3.        The quantities are not adequate and should be increased.

4.        The definition of family should be changed, as multiple nuclear families together are counted as only one family. Each of the smaller families should get their own ration card.

5.        It is not enough to include the portability of PDS, but to ensure that all of us have ration cards to begin with. We discussed this and felt that universalisation is the only way to ensure that no one is excluded.

6.   There can be one all-inclusive card for identification, status, health and rations, once we finish registration at the Panchayat level.

Anganwadis and Janani Suraksha Yojana

1.        Portability of Anganwadi facilities like nutrition, Take Home Ration, 1400 rupees upon delivery, education, free health checkups, Rs.5000 for the maternity benefit - one card should be used for identity and access to all schemes, all over India.

2.        Increase the number of Anganwadis to closer proximity for some currently remote areas.

3.        Have a system for further remote areas where the rations are set aside, and members from the community can travel to the center and take them for the full community.

4.        Mother-Child health card and other schemes also to have connectivity to the migrant worker identity card.

5.        Day care-Creche/Phulwadi or safe space for the children of migrant workers has to be provided by employers when there are many children (5+).

6.        Migrant workers’ ID cards should be usable to get children from 1st Class into residential schools, in their State/Place of origin, or destination of work, in case children have to be left behind. If children are being taken to the destination of work, there should be eligibility for admission in the middle of a school year. This kind of guarantee of education should be there for migrant workers’ children.

Pension Yojana

We would like to remind the Chattisgarh Government that it has promised Rs. 1000/- as pension in its election manifesto.

1. The ID card should have correct details like age, origin, etc.
2. CM Pension Yojana and Central Pension Yojana are different. Do not differentiate between Adivasis and non Adivasis out of migrant workers.
3. Increase Pension amount to at least half of the monthly minimum wages legally prescribed.
4. Pension payments should happen seamlessly through DBT.

Pradhan Mantri Indira Awas Yojana (and Toilets/Sanitary Facilities)

1. All migrant workers should have a Right to reside in their home village
2. When housing sanctioning happens, migrant workers may be outside working; sometimes, they don’t have the house site patta, and then they are not given the house. This needs to change. Migrant workers should be made eligible for housing on a priority basis, and house sites have to be given.
3. Land also should be sanctioned to those who don’t have their own land to live. They cannot be eliminated from their right of a place to live, a home to call their own in any condition
4. This should be addressed by the government, with the intent to prevent distressed migration, and displacement.

MGNREGS

1. For those migrant workers who went out of the state to work in other states for at least 100, there should be a guarantee that they will be allocated work for 200 days on minimum wages under the scheme.
2. When migrant workers go to another State to work, at the place of origin, the job card is inactivated. So when they come back, they are not getting guaranteed employment under the card. Inactivating the job card should not be done for migrant workers.
3. Upon asking, we should immediately be provided with work.
4. The Jury also asks village communities to be made aware about all provisions related to MGNREGA so that workers can organise themselves and make full use of the scheme.
5. The Jury calls upon job card holders to give their ‘maang patra’ for work, collectively and in writing, so that the provision of unemployment allowance can be fought for more strongly in implementation. It is also worthwhile to use NREGS for water harvesting to the maximum possible extent.
6. The Jury calls upon the Central Government to allocate more resources in the annual budget itself for the scheme, estimating the need on the ground.
7. There is also a need for starting and implementing an urban employment guarantee scheme, for those migrant workers who put in an application for work.  

Health

1. State government should launch a life insurance scheme where migrant workers’ families receive death benefits, in case of any death at the destination site.

2. Ayushman Bharat scheme should be implemented with no additional incidental costs for medicines, Radiology (scans), diagnostic tests etc.. Portability of this scheme is there on paper but effective implementation should be guided by some deterrents like fines etc.
3. PHCs should be made fully functional, day and night, and government hospitals should not be referring patients to private hospitals except in certain conditions.

1. Distress Migration has to be addressed by first strengthening livelihoods back home 

STRENGTHENING LOCAL LIVELIHOODS FOR THOSE THOSE WHO HAVE NO LAND AND HAVE NO ACCESS TO FORESTS EITHER:

We heard many presentations that assumed that all migrant workers have farming, or have access to forests. Several of us are those who do not have access to either. We do not know how many like us exist in various parts of Chattisgarh. For them, the following should be taken up.

i. Allocate land (2 acres) along with funds for some irrigation source.

1. Reclaim grazing lands that have been encroached on
2. Prevent acquisition of land by government for private industrial projects

ii. Support these households with grants for setting up of small enterprises, businesses and trades eg. kirana stores, livestock rearing

1. Support better utilization of funding available through Mahila Samuh /SHGs through training of co-ordinators/leaders

iii. Proper implementation of MNREGS by ensuring work days as guaranteed under scheme (more on NREGS separately)

1. Curtail “rotation” of workers and ensure consistent and continuous availability of work

iv. Our children should get educated. Ensure proper staffing of village schools. Recruit and train from within the village so as to ensure commitment and increase job availability

While recommending the above, we realise that social prohibition of certain communities when it comes to certain activities including animal rearing restrict options.

LIVELIHOODS FOR THE LANDED

Landholdings are not big enough for a family to survive only on cultivation, and not go out for migration looking for work. Our jury members themselves reflected the position of 1 to 2.5 acres of land ownership, with several having one-season agriculture. It is clearly recognised and recommended that an integrated farming systems approach is taken, where cultivation is accompanied by other livelihood activities including fish-rearing and backyard poultry. The focus is on improving incomes from farming, in addition to nutrition security, even as natural resources are conserved or even regenerated.

1. The number of crop-seasons per acre of land has to be increased (cropping intensity), and if some land remains as a one-season-per-year land, the farmer should be supported to shift to high-value crops at least in one portion of the land. The idea is to improve incomes from cultivation.

1. For increasing cropping intensity, it is proposed that all rain water harvesting possibilities be invested upon - this includes village commons and taking up water harvesting work like check dams and ponds. Any encroachments on village commons should be removed.
2. Where there is an irrigation source, especially for non-paddy crops, it should be shifted to drip irrigation for various benefits. Government has to support this.
3. The Andhra Pradesh model of Pre Monsoon Dry Sowing (PMDS) in its natural farming programme should be adopted for improving cropping intensity
4. There should be no diversion of irrigation water to industry

2. For reduction of costs and improving incomes, organic and natural farming should be promoted on a large scale. For this, training has to be invested on a very large scale. The model adopted should be of organic inputs being prepared by the farmers themselves and not purchased from the market. Support has to be extended as appropriate for this.

3. Ineffective and spurious inputs, whether pesticides or seeds, have to be regulated strictly.

4. It is noted that even in the case of paddy, procurement is of produce from only one season, with a ceiling of 15 quintals per acre. There is no procurement of the crop in other seasons, nor is there procurement of other crops. Every crop should have a guaranteed MSP, and procurement of other crops should also be taken up by the government to ensure MSP. This includes cereals like wheat and oilseeds like mustard.

5. In Integrated Farming approach, every landed household should be encouraged and supported to take up livestock rearing and fish culture where possible. Dairy cooperatives have to be strengthened in every village.

6. Damage is being caused to crops by stray cattle. All stray cattle should be taken care of in goshalas and gowthans.

7. Crop insurance should cover more risks like very localised risks to one or two farmers, from stray cattle and wild animal attacks. Government officials should be attached to help farmers get their insurance - there should be a grievance redressal point within the government agriculture department.

8. Traditional seed varieties are disappearing very fast, and there is only ‘research’ seed available now. Farmers have become dependent on external supply sources. To reverse this, and to bring back nutrition security, traditional seeds have to be popularised by the department through Krishi/Kisan Melas. Traditional seed saving knowledge has to be spread.

9. Several general recommendations are applicable to all farmers, and migrant workers may not have all information needed to suggest some other recommendations. For this, they will need feedback from regular farmers.

10. On the Narwa - Garwa - Gurwa - Badi program of the government, the jury notes that this is a traditional system of Chattisgarh and nothing new. Further, this is being interpreted and implemented in a limited fashion of only buying cow dung from, and selling vermi-compost to farmers through women’s SHGs. While this is a good step, this is not adequate. Both on Narwa and Badi, more interventions are needed.

FOREST BASED LIVELIHOODS

Forest-based livelihoods will depend on community rights over forests.

Forest Rights of Communities

Community Forest Rights should be immediately recognised based on traditional boundaries. Re-open all claims of IFR and CFR to ensure that rejections of claims under Forest Rights Act can be addressed squarely and justly. 

Forest Regeneration and Conservation

Communities will be able to regenerate and conserve biodiverse forests once the community rights are recognised. Government has to invest on capacity-building for better management of the resources.

Van Upaj Yojana

1.        There should be specific rights given upon the forests surrounding the villages and exclusive protection of existing forest lands should vest with communities.

2.        Increase in price which is sufficient for livelihood from MFP, and migration can be reduced to a large extent.

3.        The government can think of supplementing wages for those working under the van upaj scheme (like foraging, etc.).

4.        Skill training can be imparted on bamboo crafts, carpentry.

5.        Local communities have to be supported for Marketing, including capital and infrastructure. Market information awareness is needed. There is a need for help for the sale of the products and connection to the marketplace. Government cooperatives should include migrant worker representatives, in addition to FPOs of forest-dwellers.

6.        There is a need for Storage facilities, godowns and processing or value addition related machinery. Government should support the same.

7.        Vocational business education and awareness are needed, so we can learn how to sell products.

LIVESTOCK REARING

We believe that livestock rearing will be an important livelihood source for some communities/families, under the following conditions. The same have to be ensured by the government.

1. Livestock rearing requires grazing lands as well as homestead site for keeping the cattle
2. At least 5 cattle and 5 goats of good breeds should be given - lesser number will not work
3. Vaccination and insurance are a must, and government support needed for this
4. A toll free number of veterinary support should be available and such services accessible
5. Training centres for livestock rearing and creation of village level cadre of trained extension workers is needed
6. Dairy cooperatives should function strongly, with milk collection centres in all villages. There should be more markets for sale, and remunerative prices should be guaranteed
7. Veterinary Doctor should be available on call.

NREGS

1. For those migrant workers who went out of the state to work in other states for at least 100, there should be a guarantee that they will be allocated work for 200 days on minimum wages under the scheme.
2. When migrant workers go to another State to work, at the place of origin, the job card is inactivated. So when they come back, they are not getting guaranteed employment under the card. Inactivating the job card should not be done for migrant workers.
3. Upon asking, we should immediately be provided with work.
4. The Jury also asks village communities to be made aware about all provisions related to MGNREGA so that workers can organise themselves and make full use of the scheme.
5. The Jury calls upon job card holders to give their ‘maang patra’ for work, collectively and in writing, so that the provision of unemployment allowance can be fought for more strongly in implementation. It is also worthwhile to use NREGS for water harvesting to the maximum possible extent.
6. The Jury calls upon the Central Government to allocate more resources in the annual budget itself for the scheme, estimating the need on the ground.
7. There is also a need for starting and implementing an urban employment guarantee scheme, for those migrant workers who put in an application for work.

The Jury notes that loans given by/to women’s SHGs have also become a burden and in a few cases, even the reason for migration. The Government should think about loan waiver here. The Jury realises the immense potential of women’s collectives in enhancing and strengthening local livelihoods.

2. A MINIMUM STANDARD HAS TO BE GUARANTEED WITH REGARD TO EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS AT DESTINATION END, AND LEGAL PROVISIONS/SUPPORT AVAILABLE FOR THE SAME

1. We are not aware of the laws that are applicable to us - large scale legal literacy is needed. We also believe that we will not be able to take resort to multiple statutes at our end, and once we register or complain in a grievance redressal mechanism, the best possible statutory provisions should be made applicable.

2. We find that the Supreme Court’s orders on “Bonded Labour” apply to many of us - we want a Helpline for this law to be used by us; there is a need for better coordination between origin and destination state officials on this. Similar is the case with Factories Act.

3. There should be no distinction between contract labourers and regular employees of any employer or work site. Both kinds of workers, for the same kind of work, should be treated on par in terms of wages, leave, PF, maternity benefits, other benefits like insurance etc.

4. Labour Codes of 2020 wherever they have diluted earlier protective provisions for us, have to be changed to reflect the higher bar of protection for migrant workers.

5. Registration of only one juror has happened so far. Gram Sabha based registrations should be the main process to be adopted, and this is very much possible.

6. There needs to be a skill-mapping taken up at the time of registration.

7. Skill development efforts should not reject applications put in, and should be accompanied by both certificates issued and incubation investment to get an enterprise running, if it is meant for the origin-end livelihood. Skill Development should go hand in hand with class-room based education.  

8. Registration as a Migrant Worker in itself should guarantee some entitlements to us. It should also lead to unemployment allowance being given in case no work options open up. The same registration should be used for tracking once we migrate.

9. We would like to know the basis of minimum wages being fixed. There should be no disparity between us and other organised sector workers, when such minimum wage floor is fixed, in terms of the formula used. Such a minimum-wage-fixing formula should include all elements that go into the Pay Commission formula.

10. While there is registration for workers which should not be made compulsory, there should be a system of licensing for thekedars and agents.

11. We welcome the recent Supreme Court Orders in June 2021, for migrant workers and some basic needs. On the re-survey for National Food Security Act 2013, we believe that such a survey is not needed, and universalisation of PDS is important. Everyone has to be included. When it comes to Community Kitchens, we believe that these should be at work sites also, and should give three meals a day, of nutritious, good quality food.

12. We want a centralised Helpline number, rather than multiple helpline numbers for different kinds of problems, and different numbers at destination and origin ends.

13. At the destination end, there should be Minimum Wages guaranteed and paid. Any work above 8 hours should be treated as over time, and paid accordingly.

14. At the work location, there should be free housing to be arranged by the employer where a water-proof roof is important along with beds (physical safety from scorpions, snakes etc.). There should also be low cost housing arranged in big cities by the city authorities, and this should have at least one room, bathroom and kitchen. Water facility for both drinking and other uses is very important at the place of stay at the destination end.

15. Whenever there is a death, a nominee from the immediate family of the migrant worker should be given the work, as replacement.

16. There should be a system where the health of a worker is assessed at the time of beginning of work with an employer, and any adverse occupational health impacts that affect the migrant worker at the time of completion of work with the employer should be the responsibility of the employer.

17. There should be full protection against violence during transit and stay. A central helpline number is important. Additionally, tying up with local NGOs at the destination end, by the Chhattisgarh government is important. Chhattisgarh government should also tie up with the destination state governments and have coordination capacity with relevant authorities there.

18. Women Migrant Workers: For women migrant workers, there should be working women’s hostels set up in destination states. Chhattisgarh government can tie up with local NGOs there for this purpose. Women should not be made to work later than 8pm, unless the woman worker is giving her informed consent. For a pregnant woman, there should be maternity leave given after 6 months of pregnancy for 3 months before delivery, and she should be entitled to full wages to be paid by the employer during this time. The father should be entitled to one month of paternity leave. After delivery, she should be paid half the salary for six months, as part of maternity entitlement. Women workers should also be allowed to leave for two days every month during menstrual periods. There should be zero tolerance towards sexual violence and harassment that women migrant workers face. The POSH Act should be implemented in all work sites.

19. Worker Welfare Boards should be set up and made fully functional.

D. OUR FEEDBACK ON CHHATTISGARH ANTAR-RAJYEEY PRAWASI SHRAMIK NEETI

1. The policy does not have enough focus and details on reducing and preventing distress migration from Chattisgarh. The policy is mainly focused on managing migration and ameliorating the problems and distress of migrant workers. The Jury strongly believes that Chhattisgarh Government should set a goal and target for itself for reducing distress related migration, that too with a priority on most vulnerable households, regions and communities.
2. The policy does not focus on in-migrants into Chattisgarh and the same standards and commitments have to be made to such in-migrants into the state as what the state is expecting for migrant workers who go out of Chattisgarh.
3. For contractors, the state policy should insist on licensing, with even security deposit collected and not just registration.
4. When it comes to women workers, there are various measures to be taken with regard to preventing discrimination, and to ensure that women’s safety is ensured. The Jury in its main verdict has given various other proposals which should become part of Chattisgarh Migrant Workers Policy.
5. The Policy in its Grievance Redressal proposals has not included action with regard to accountability mechanisms and deterrent punishment.
6. Under Skill Development, while certificate has been mentioned in the draft policy, we have first hand experience of one juror who did not receive a certificate after a skill development training on tailoring; another juror’s application got rejected and reason is unknown. Further, it is important to specify two categories of skill development - those who want to start their own enterprises in Chhattisgarh with the new skills acquired, should be supported with appropriate capital, raw materials, machinery, information related to the enterprise etc. And there is a second category of acquiring a skill, to be employed by an entrepreneur/employer elsewhere, where a certificate alone is useful enough. Similarly, while taking up skill-mapping of migrant workers, the Chhattisgarh government should do very simple testing of the skills that already exist with us, and issue certificates to those who have learnt skills on the job (without the state investing on such skill development).
7. On the Jan Bhagidari Shramik Soochna Portal, we feel that everything going online does not help us in any substantial way. We would like information to be put out in the village as Jan Soochna Boards, given that we find that even information is often denied to us.
8. In the slide on “Pravasi Shramik”, it has been assured that all schemes run by the Chhattisgarh Government will continue. We would like to emphasise that the first priority should be that no migrant worker is not left out of such schemes of the state government.
9. In the slide on “Gantavya Rajyon Ke Saath Samyukt Prayaas”, there should be an effort to get schemes of destination states also accessible to migrant workers, especially those that are not available at the origin end.
10. In the slide on “Vibhageeya Jawabdehi”, the Government policy makes a mention of health services. It should be specifically mentioned that such provision will be free of cost - this should not be of just doctor services but of expert doctors as well as diagnostic and medicine costs. High quality education should be the commitment under Education department.
11. The Policy does not have adequate details on support to be extended to children of migrant workers. In the Pratibhaddhata slide, we feel that the government should commit to both women and children’s protection.
12. During registration, there should be registration of under-18 family members of migrant workers so that the government has details of the same.
13. At the Destination end, the government should look at Suraksha also, in addition to Sewa, Suvidha and Laabh.
14. The policy should have adequate focus on prevention of corrupt practices because of which migrant workers are denied various services and schemes.

E. JURY VOICES

Health

1. Why are the poor treated differently from the rich when we go to government hospitals? Why is it that we are made to wait for hours whereas for the rich, there is prompt service?
2. Pregnant women are given some support under Janani Suraksha after the delivery. What is the point in this, when they need the support before the delivery?
3. In Ayushman Bharat, the hospitals give 10000 rupees worth of services and bill the patient for 20000 rupees.
4. Why do government PHCs not work 24X7, when the most serious ailments and health emergencies usually happen in the nights in the villages?
5. We leave behind elderly people when we go to migrate. They cannot even visit the PHCs in some cases. Cannot doctors be asked to visit households in a village?
6. When we go to government doctors and hospitals, they send us to private hospitals.
7. Why does the Aayushman card system not work efficiently?
8. Why can’t the monetary benefit for pregnant women be disbursed prior to the delivery so they may use it for nutrition instead of after the delivery?
9. How to ensure services reach those in remote areas and pahadi areas, where private hospitals are closer to them than government funded resources and centres?
10.  Bigger procedures like C-sections are being sent to private hospitals, and we can’t afford
11. We keep being redirected from public to private, private to public institutions for different things like tests, medicines etc. Can all services be housed in one organization in each city? How do we change implementation issues where even when we are eligible for tests with government hospitals, understaffed or have no motivation to help us and we are redirected to private hospitals which we cannot afford.
12. Inequality is also present in the health centers and a distortion in wages we receive and the prices we are charged to pay for the facilities and necessary goods.

Education

13. We may have been taught certain skills or gotten the opportunity, but after that how can we carry it forward if we don’t get a job to do with who teaches us? We don't have the resources to invest in a sewing machine etc.
14. Awareness is important, many don’t know of any helplines
15. We never knew about several issues related to NREGA before - no one creates awareness about these matters
16. How can we have good quality of education where we are spending more on the travel to the institution rather than on the education itself? If we want English medium, NREGA workers cannot study in private institutions - How can we have access as well?
17. Children will feel like they are a burden if they study further than 12th. Is there a way to inculcate vocational skills for our children between 9th-12th grade education itself so they can sustain themselves?

Land Rights

18. When we are too poor to even own a house in our own home, how can we get land to make a house and live? -
19. How does the government plan to help landless migrant workers? We neither have land, nor a home. We want a place to live, some capital to set up a shop.
20. We have seen in the news that a factory or dam might open in every village soon - where will we go then? Why don’t we have a right over the land we hold as ours

Social Benefits

21. In the same household, how did some people get an APL ration card and others got BPL?
22. Why is the channa being given in PDS full of pests?
23. Hum gareeb insaan nahin hai kya?
24. When we are not allowed to work during emergencies, and are stuck in other states, can we get facilities made available for our family in the town and some for us where we are stuck?
25. When we already have expenses, until we pay any loans back or meet these expenses we can’t wait in the interim for the scheme to launch, so what can be done now?
26.  We have not received a ration card for our family members it's been years now. There are a lot of issues in the documentation process.
27. We are not getting the promised quantity for the family. Why?
28. How can we fix discrepancies in the supply chain for nutrition and sanitary products  for pregnant and menstruating women and in anganwadi centres for children?
29. Food basket is limited to rice. There is a requirement for oil, masala, and other necessities. How can that be addressed?
30. How in the same family there are two different rate cards being made? When we are of the same status and background and live together?
31. Dwelling conditions are also poor in the rural areas. The issue exists in dwelling space as well as poor safeguard of the house.
32. There is an adverse violation of contracts on a frequent basis. What should be done?
33. The rate of implementation and subjugation of rights is multifold. How to rectify?
34. Dharamshalas to be maintained better
35. How can investment in water resources be done if the groundwater levels have depleted beyond viability? And what about those who do not own their own lands?
36. What happens when there are no common resources, when there is just infertile land and scarce resources?

Income and Employment

37. For any livelihood options that we explore, especially as landless people, when we go to a bank to get loans, they ask for land title papers for a mortgage!! We are forced to migrate when we have to repay even small loans we take from moneylenders. Pravasi Majdoor ko loan kyun nahi dete?
38. You cannot make a whole village into a ghadda-digging community by talking about NREGA employment - when will we become skilled workers, and get salaried jobs?
39.  If we can’t work even a single day, we don’t eat that day. How can we get any work when we ask for it?
40. Wages are not enough anymore, especially when we have to purchase the same things in cities and places more expensive than ours. Can this be subsidised or can we get living allowance over and above the promised wages?
41. Gumastha work - the employer can’t remove the employee immediately after finishing the work. When the form is filled but didn’t reach the authority, how can that gap be checked?
42. How can workers get organized? (Ans.get educated, and our societal structure needs to change.. )
43. How to check the payment delays for work already completed? Can there be a redressal system
44. What happens when we don’t have a market for those products in our areas, we don’t know how to find that market?
45. Have to leave children for low wage rates and work far away for NREGA work. Balanced nutrition for children is important and we need to earn enough. We are not even getting 100 days of work at times, although they say 100. (Yes, only 4 lakh people work for 100 days. You have to ask for the work. There are many who are working, without their names on the muster roll. - You also need to check if your name has gotten registered on the roll, or whether somebody else’s is on it instead of yours)
46. Wages inequalities exist along with that limited number of days of work is also a problem. What should be done?
47. Why do men and women labourers face several difficulties at work?
48. Which plant commodity will be profitable for us?

Political Participation

49. We agree that we need to organise ourselves to fight collectively - but how do we do that?
50. How to guarantee rights in the destination we reach and where we go to work? Our village sabhas cannot help us there.
51. What about illegal capturing of our owned lands - not even by outsiders but by powerful and influential people within the village? Sometimes even sarpanch or local leaders? How can we be protected there and have our rights guaranteed in this situation?
52. Is it important to be listed in the population database?
53. How can you track the labour? Some registered workers also are not able to avail benefits. (we are creating an online portal, but it is hard for us to find the middlemen. Even when we find groups on the station, they avoid the registration)
54. What is the plan for registration?
55. Why are contractors not registered for scrutiny?
56. There are so many existing laws,schemes and policies in India. Still there is acute poverty and we have no knowledge about our destitute. Why government accountable is not to any of them?
57. There is no public grievance against the injustice done by the contractor?
58. Why registration takes place in groups and not individually. why?
59. Once the registration is completed and they migrate to work, they get no holidays to come back. Where can we complain about it? Also, can it be done for all states?