By Sanu V. George
Thiruvananthapuram, May 13 (SocialNews.XYZ) 70-year-old low profile, soft spoken and ever smiling Kerala Labour Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan is a man of few words but full of action as he ensured that migrant labourers in Kerala got all the basic comforts when COVID-19 struck hard.
In an exclusive chat with IANS at his office here at the State Secretariat Ramakrishnan popularly referred to as TPR has a plan of action which will not just be for the state's labour force, but also for the migrant labourers - who in Kerala are known as 'guest workers'.
Q: When Covid-19 struck, did you fear handling the migrant labourers' welfare ?
A: Not exactly, as the Left government (2006-11) had already a plan in place and it was only a question of working on the foundation laid then. The only issue was on the exact number as the only study done on them was done a few years ago and it mentions that there are 2.5 million migrant labourers in our state from various states.
We now feel that this is an inflated figure and according to our estimates, it would be around one million. We are soon going to conduct a proper scientific study on it to determine the numbers.
Q: Was setting up migrant labour camps a challenge, when Covid-19 came unannounced?
A: To start with we did not know the numbers, but our department rose to the occasion and help came from the local self government and the police. We set up around 20,000 camps and were able to put up more than 3.80 lakh migrant labourers in these camps and gave them all the necessary support.
Q: There were reports of restlessness in these camps, how was it settled?
A: There were some vested interests who tried to misguide these migrant labourers and since we were able to identify such attempts, our officials explained to them and everything was back to normal.
Q: Do you have any welfare schemes for these migrant labourers?
A: Yes we have two schemes at the moment. One is 'Awaaz' a full fledged insurance scheme and the highlight is these people do not have to pay any premium. The state government takes care of it. At the moment we are ensuring to spread the message of this facility to all the migrant labourers. It has a chip card which will have all the details of them.
The second programme is 'Apna Ghar' and this is a residential programme. The first of it has started at Palakkad where 620 migrant labourers are put up in flats. Every facility is there in it and we charge Rs 1,000 per person for a month. We will set up similar centres in every district.
Q: How many migrant labourers would have returned after trains started to run?
A: Close to 20,000 people have returned by now in special trains. We will not ask a single migrant labourer to return to their home state. Already certain sectors have resumed their work. It's their choice. We will keep running all these camps as long as they need it and we are in no hurry to end these camps.
Q: What about Kerala's labour force and what are the plans?
A: In our state there are a few types of workers - those in the organised, unorganised, traditional and the agricultural workers. We estimate the total in these to be around one crore.
Now we are seeing a good number of our people - especially the labour class returning from the Middle East.
The general opinion about our workers is they are semi-skilled workers and the state government will ensure to see that in the post-Covid era, there will be a huge need for skilled work force. We plan to equip our semi-skilled workforce into skilled ones.
This will help our entire workforce to make them employable in the new world order, which will soon be seen, when the world economy gets back.
Q: What are your specific plans?
A: Our department has now submitted a plan of Rs 13,000 crore to the Centre, which will ensure schemes like ESI and such social schemes so our labour force gets into it.
We also will run specific programmes to see that there is an attitudinal change as the need of the hour is increase production in every sphere the workforce will be employed.
Q: So do you feel, very soon, Kerala will have a workforce which is in tune with a new order?
A: Yes, already the path has been laid, as today there is a good relation between the trade unions and all others. As a government, we will act as the facilitator to ensure that it's a win-win situation for all, as none knows what's in store.
Source: IANS
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