Under the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, both the Central and the State Governments are appropriate Governments to fix, review and revise the minimum wages of the employees employed in the Scheduled employments including Migrant labourers under their respective jurisdictions. Under Section 13 of the Inter- State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, the Inter-State migrant workmen shall in no case be paid less than the wages fixed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (41 of 1948).

The Government of India has promulgated   the following Acts/Rules to address the human right violations of the citizens and atrocities including inter-state migrant workers, viz The Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970, the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008, Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes) Act, 1989 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

Ministry of Labour and Employment issued comprehensive Advisory Guidelines on 27th July, 2020 to all the States/UTs for Covid safety and welfare of the migrant workers returning to their workplaces in the destination states. The States/UTs were requested to take adequate steps to streamline the Migration of the Workers and to implement the guidelines by quickly gearing up their labour Law enforcement machinery and ensuring statutory compliance by all the stake holders which would provide Migrant Workers much needed help to mitigate the financial crisis and empower them to deal with the pandemic.

Apart from the above, in order to resolve the grievances of workers including migrant workers during lockdown, Ministry of Labour and Employment set up 20 Control Rooms all over the country. During lockdown, more than 15000 complaints of the workers were resolved through these Control Rooms and 1.86 lakh workers were paid their due wages amounting to about Rs.295 crores.

During the 1st surge of Covid-19, the State/UT BOCW Welfare Boards have also cumulatively disbursed more than Rs. 5618 Crores, through DBT, to the bank accounts of 1.83 Crores BOCW Workers including BOC Migrant Workers during lockdown and thereafter, food relief packages have also been provided by the States/UTs to around 30 lakh workers from the cess fund. Further, during the 2nd surge of Covid-19, Rs. 1795 Crores have been disbursed through DBT, to the bank accounts of 1.23 Crores BOCW Workers including BOC Migrant Workers.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shri Rameshwar Teli in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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MJPS/NSK

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