The rape and murder of a five-year-old migrant girl in Kerala exposes how the state government has ignored the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act of 1979 and how inter-state workers in Kerala are subjected to the same treatment that workers from Kerala face in the Gulf.
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A migrant child from Bihar went missing in Aluva, a town in Kochi, Kerala on July 28. After a 20 hour-long search operation, the police found the mutilated body of the child in the dumpyard of a nearby market.
She had been raped and murdered. The alleged culprit, who is also from Bihar, was arrested before the dead body was found.
The child lived with her parents in Aluva, the hub of inter-state migrants. The town has limited amenities, but is the first stop for migrants like the child’s parents, who come to Kerala in search of better living and education for their children.
But despite being in Kerala, which prides itself on being top-of-the-list on many indicators of growth, the migrant workers face many risks and challenges in day-to-day life.
What do the figures say
Rough figures say that there are nearly four million inter-state migrants in Kerala, which is kind of a Gulf country for them to migrate without a passport and visa.
The Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID) is an independent not-for-profit civil society organisation devoted to migration and inclusive development, and the rights and welfare of inter-state migrants.
According to a CMID report, by the 1990s, Kochi, the construction hub and commercial capital of Kerala, had witnessed heavy migration of labourers from Tamil Nadu.
The Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development report also reveals that among the 194 districts of India from which migrant labourers have arrived at Kerala, 33 districts are among the top 100 districts with the highest percentage of Scheduled Tribes population.
Significant labour migration from beyond southern India began with people moving from Odisha to work in the timber industry of Kerala’s Ernakulam district.
Also read: Migrant workers’ scare in Tamil Nadu; sifting truth from disinformation
Later on, workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam also started to flock into the state.
The CMID report also reveals that among the 194 districts of India from which migrant labourers have arrived at Kerala, 33 districts are among the top 100 districts with the highest percentage of Scheduled Tribes population. In 21 of these districts, Scheduled Tribes constitute 50–98 percent of the population.
Factors inducing the migration
Experts have identified many ‘pull’ and ‘push factors’ for labour migration into Kerala. Push factors— that force workers out of their home states— include agrarian crisis, unemployment, caste-based conflicts, and climate change.
Pull factors— that make Kerala an attractive destination for migrant workers— include the fact that minimum wages in Kerala are the highest in India.
According to a Reserve Bank of India report, in the construction sector, the average daily wage received by male workers in rural India during 2021–22 was ₹373.3, whereas in Kerala, it was ₹837.7.
Similarly, in the agriculture sector, the national average of wages received was ₹323.2, whereas in Kerala, it was ₹726.8. In the non-agriculture sector, the national average was ₹326.6, while in Kerala, it was ₹681.8.
Is this a desi kafala system?
Despite having a Left Democratic Front government, inter-state migrants in Kerala are being exploited to an extent that it has started to show signs of modern-day slavery.
Unfortunately, the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979. is not enforced effectively in Kerala.
Inter-state migrants receive minimum wages, which most of the time are three times higher than their home state wages, but the working hours most often extend to an additional four hours.
According to the Act, establishments that hire inter-state migrant workers should be registered and the government should appoint registration officers.
The contractors who recruit or supply inter-state migrant workers should be licensed and the government should provide the licences. Above all, the government should post inspectors to ensure fair practices.
The instructions under the Act are rarely followed at the ground level in Kerala, which often leads to chaotic situations. Kerala lacks proper data on inter-state migrants and the migrants who come here face different challenges too.
Inter-state migrants receive minimum wages, which most of the time are three times higher than their home state wages, but the working hours most often extend to an additional four hours.
Most migrant workers are footloose workers who look for daily-wage work as they do not trust the employer’s monthly wage offers. The middlemen or contractors pay the wages after taking their commission.
Interestingly, there are no written job contracts either. The workers do not get proper safety gear too, which often results in tragedies. Workplace accidents leading to injuries to and deaths of migrant workers are a frequent occurrence.
In short, inter-state migrant workers are undergoing modern-day slavery in Kerala, which goes unnoticed by the public and even by trade unions and the Left political parties that rule the state.
In the Gulf, Keralites undergo a similar situation.
Even though they are the ones who are involved in building skyscrapers, world cup football stadiums, underwater hotels, the biggest malls, modern cities in the desert and resorts in artificially set islands, they are still miskeen (meaning ‘weak’ in Arabic) slaves, because in the Gulf countries, the kafala system is followed.
Under this system, the State gives native individuals or companies sponsorship permits to employ foreign labour.
In many cases, the kafeels take away the passports and other legal documents of the migrant workers, which makes it difficult for the workers to return home or change their employer.
But when Keralites come from the Gulf with their hard-earned money to India, they assume the role of kafeels and inter-state migrant workers become their miskeen slaves.
Many basic labour rights practices are also not followed under the kafala system, as State and autonomous bodies that are supposed to look after the welfare of the workers do not have jurisdiction over workers employed under the kafala system.
In brief, kafala is an exploitative labour system where the employee is tied to the employer, or kafeels.
But when Keralites come from the Gulf with their hard-earned money to India, they assume the role of kafeels and inter-state migrant workers become their miskeen slaves.
Just like Keralites are building the Gulf, inter-state migrants are building Kerala by undergoing slave-like conditions, which none of the Keralite will agree to, despite it being a fact.
The Kerala government, Keralites and media like to call these inter-state migrant workers ‘guest workers’, which itself is a patronising usage aimed at masking the stripping down of the rights of migrant workers.
In the Gulf too, domestic workers are termed as guest workers and denied rights, including access to basic protections under labour law.
Also read: Money for the dead but none for the living, the Indian Community Welfare Fund in Gulf countries
The logic the Arabs give is that a domestic worker stays with them in the same house or compound, so he or she cannot be treated as a worker. So, they cannot be extended protection under labour law.
Interestingly, the kafala system was originally designed for adoption of children.
In Kerala, when everyone patronises these inter-state migrant workers as guest workers, they are denying the rights provided under Articles 21 and 41, saying no to basic workers’ rights or human rights for them.
Article 21 guarantees the right to life and personal liberty, and the Supreme Court has interpreted this to mean that the right to life also includes the right to livelihood.
In Kerala, when everyone patronises these inter-state migrant workers as guest workers, they are denying the rights provided under Articles 21 and 41, saying no to basic workers’ rights or human rights for them.
As a result, it is clear that the refusal of the right to work, i.e., livelihood, amounts to deprivation of the right to life.
Article 41, states that the State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, education and public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.
Unfortunately, Kerala is failing to guarantee Articles 21 and 41, and honour basic human rights, ensure welfare of workers, and enforce existing protective laws for inter-state migrant workers.
Sadly, this is happening in a state which thrives on migrant remittances sent by the people of the state working in foreign countries, especially from the Gulf, who are themselves undergoing slave-like exploitative working conditions.
