Mamata Banerjee's livelihood promise to Bengali migrant workers leaves state govt 'in a fix'

Kolkata, Aug 1 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's livelihood promise to Bengali migrant workers returning from BJP-ruled states seems to have left the state administration in a fix.

Sources in the state secretariat envision too many hurdles in implementing the Chief Minister's job and livelihood assurance if Bengali migrant workers start returning to the state in large numbers in response to her call.

The first hurdle is the non-availability of any authentic database on the exact number of migrant workers from West Bengal, as well as any figure on their state-wise distribution.

"Secondly, there is no authentic data on how many of them are floating workers and how many are permanent migrant workers. Separate data on the numbers of skilled and unskilled migrant workers from West Bengal are also not available. At the same time, there is no estimation, even approximate, on sector-wise distribution of engagement of these migrant workers from West Bengal," pointed out an official from the state Planning, Statistics and Programme Monitoring Department, who refused to be named.

Floating workers are those who stay at their native places in West Bengal for a major part of the year and periodically move to other states for a set time to earn a living.

"These floating migrant workers do not have any specific destination, and they go to earn some money for a limited period in a year to any state where the chances of these temporary earnings are higher. These floating migrant workers are mainly either agricultural workers, whose demands in other states rise during the sowing and harvesting seasons, or are unskilled workers without any specialisation," sources in the state government pointed out.

The permanent migrant workers are those who are settled permanently in other states, many of them with their families, and for them, West Bengal is a vocational venue during the festive seasons.

According to sources in the state government, the majority of these permanent migrant workers are skilled workers with specialisations in areas like real estate and infrastructure development, garment manufacturing, jewellery making, gem cutting, and metal idol craftsmanship, among others.

"Now the problem is that even if the unskilled or floating migrant workers and to an extent skilled workers engaged in real estate and infrastructure development sector could be accommodated with alternative job and livelihood arrangements in case they return to West Bengal, there is virtually zero scope for resettlement for skilled workers with specialisation in other sectors," the state government sources said.

Even in the case of unskilled and floating migrant workers, the rates of daily payment they receive in industrially developed or agriculturally superior states are much higher than the corresponding rates in West Bengal.

--IANS

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