SHANTI MARIA FONSECA
A two day National Sem inar on “Accompanying the Invisible Workforce” is being held today the 17th of August, 2026 at the Don Bosco Provincial House Goa. The pur pose of holding this seminar is to focus on the rights of these invisible, marginalised persons who are highly productive but lowly paid. Migrant workers in India are highly vulnerable to language and culture- bar riers, rootlessness, exclusion, xenophobia, health hazards, accidents and deaths. They are easy targets of gender discrim ination and non-payment of wages, human trafficking and bonded labour. The first day of the seminar will deliberate on “Understanding the invisible workforce” and the second day will have sessions on “Building partnerships for migrants”. The two-day conference functions as a collaborative platform that brings together resource per sons, policy researchers and social scientists specializing in public policy. There would be labour right activists, trade un ion representatives, and NGOs. Present would also be academic delegates from Central and Pri vate Universities. The seminar is structured around giving visibility and sup port to vulnerable workforce segments. It would discuss in detail the implementation of the Code on Social Security and labour laws relevant to the informal sector.
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There would also be a review of safety-nets, community assimilation and the portability of welfare benefits across State borders. During the course of the day, there would be a round table on ‘Domestic and Gig Worker Rights. There would also be an evaluation of the ‘Goa labour Welfare Board’ so as to understand the provisions that could be made available to this segment of society. Individual ly, unions are doing commend able work. But this is the time to come together and raise their voices as one. Only then will our demands be heard and justice delivered. There is an urgent need to build a united front. The seminar would conclude by adopting “The Goa Declaration on accompanying the invisible workforce”. Sociologist Arlene Kaplan Daniels coined the term “invisible workforce” in 1987 to describe people who perform tasks, jobs or duties that are largely unseen, unrecognised, unpaid and undervalued by soci ety and employers alike. In our economic structure, the people who work the hardest and are more productive often times get paid the least. Migration is a defining fea ture of today’s labour markets and a growing global trend. In dia’s economic model is based on cheap and flexible migrant la bour. Internal migration in India involves hundreds of millions of workers and their families who move across states or rural-ur ban boundaries for livelihoods. The latest data in the 2011 Cen sus indicates that almost 46% of India’s urban population consists of migrants. The Eco nomic Survey (2017) estimated that an average of 5 to 6 million Indians migrated annually be tween 2001 and 2011, leading to an inter-district migrant pop ulation “as high as 80 million”. India’s construction sector is considered the most unsafe sector, accounting for the high est proportion of occupational accidents in the world. Migrant workers are left with no income source following their accidents nor are there any institutional safeguards. Accidents are rare ly reported even after repeated occurrences at the same site, in spite of the statutory require ment to report workplace acci dents within 48 hours. Due to the absence of child-care facil ities, children frequently roam the hazardous sites without care and supervision and are exposed to the same hazards.
The social ly and economically oppressed groups in rural areas opt to mi grate to urban centres to elude the inherent social hierarchies. They move with the hope that the caste and religion based seg regation and fetters will vanish with urbanization making way for upward mobility. Legislation requires to be en acted to secure the legal right of migrants to open bank accounts, access telecommunications e.g. SIM cards without excessive administrative bottlenecks and perform regular financial trans actions and their right to vote and possess ration and health – cards. The labour reforms pro cess must bring the protection of migrant workers right at the centre of its agenda by strength ening the institutional mecha nisms for holding employers lia ble for violations of their labour rights. The Inter State Migrant Workers’ Act, 1979, which was designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors by safeguarding their right to non-discriminatory wages, trav el and displacement allowances, and suitable working condi tions, had several limitations. The law only covered labourers brought by a contractor and not independent migrants. The re port questioned this approach given the size of the country’s unorganised sector. It is not just ironic but the cruel fact is: Mi gration data as a part of employ ment and unemployment data were last collected by the Na tional Sample Survey way back in 2007-08. India, a culturally rich and diverse country, has witnessed rapid economic development in the last few decades. However, the growth that we are watch ing has created a sharp divide between the rural and urban economies within the country. It took a nation-wide lock down during the COVID-19 pandem ic to recognise the plight of the invisible workforce that contrib utes in no small measure to the nation’s economy.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi an nounced a lock down on March 24, tens of lakhs of migrant workers who provide cheap labour to India’s industry and building its infrastructure ser vices were abruptly left with no where to go and no one around to help. Photographs captured thousands of men, women and children working in cities left clueless and walking hundreds of kilometres on highways to wards their villages. Their plight was made worse by the employ ers not paying their earned sal aries or using police to prevent them from leaving their work places. The tragic scenes of mi grant workers walking India’s roads on their way home could have been avoided with fore sight and if basic safety nets had been in place. Migrants in India face more obstacles than in any other Asian country. Enacting legislation that se cures the legal right of migrants is a must. According to Sunil Dhanji, a labour contractor in Ahmedabad, India has policies and laws with regard to labour, but it is the migrant part of la bour that has to be addressed over here.
He says “A pathetic reflection of our callousness was when the lock down was lifted and the employers want ed their workers back to restart businesses. The same company that did not pay salaries or or ganise train tickets were send ing chartered flights to Bihar to bring back labour. If you saw the flights from October to De cember 2020, I would say 80% were filled with migrant labour”. Nearer homes in Goa one of the leading fertilizer companies brought into Goa head- load workers from the neighbouring state by chartered flights! Migrants are invariably young. They bring their skills, knowl edge and youthful energy to the labour market. Their impact is especially evident in sectors where local labour is either un willing to work, selective, sloth ful insufficient or in decline. People become migrant workers primarily to escape poverty and secure better financial support for their families. These work ers, especially those from eco nomically weaker sections are forced to live in overcrowded and unhygienic accommoda tions. Many reside in shanties, temporary shelters, slums or shared rental spaces, often with out proper water supply, sanita tion or electricity.
Most migrant labourers lack formal employ ment proof or passbooks, leav ing them vulnerable to wage theft and poor safety standards. Migrant workers have helped build our roads, homes and of fices. They are engaged in every conceivable occupations, oper ations and services. We cannot stand and watch them be home less bereft of rights and humane and fair labour standards. It is high time we start to address this invisible working – class in a visionary, just and affirmative manner. (The writer is a social scientist and a practicing Sr. criminal lawyer)
