Being indispensable for somebody is a commendable achievement-to be absolutely necessary implies great potential as a resource and being able to provide some service, without which, you cannot sustain. When the idea of ‘being indispensable’ is placed in larger context of society and its structure, whoever or whatever assumes that role is of intense importance to that societal unit, that cityscape.
Lets Plan for Smart Indian Villages
S Chandrasekhar on June 23rd, 2015
Would it be more pertinent to work towards making every habitation smart rather than focusing only on 100 smart cities? Instead of harping on smart cities how about smart villages? Let us start with the 4862 villages with over 10,000 residents. Let us make these smart villages thereby covering 8.6 percent of India’s rural population. In the next phase, let us focus on villages with a population between 5000 and 9999 in the vicinity of the cities. Overtime, this would cover an additional 13.2 percent of the rural population. This strategy makes sense since a majority of large villages and those close to the towns will become urban.
100 days employment: When was it first thought of?
S Chandrasekhar on June 23rd, 2015
Last week I asked a few economist friends of mine the following question. When was the idea of 100 days employment in rural India first mooted? Each one of them said Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme and then also mentioned MNREGA in the same breath.
India on the Move: Unravelling the Black Box of Commuting
S Chandrasekhar on June 23rd, 2015
In the last couple of decades, the number of two-way commuters between rural and urban areas on a daily basis has seen an explosive growth. This includes a large number of workers engaged in menial service sector jobs who do not have a fixed place of work. One could go out on a limb and claim that migration is passé and commuting is chic but the time has come for conversations on labor mobility to move beyond one that is migration centric to one that also includes commuting. Read More
Legal clinics, BOCW linkages, and mobile kiosks: SSK’s recent interventions
Radhika M. Chakraborty on June 22nd, 2015
During the month of May, SSK organized Legal Clinic Day, facilitated the linking of workers to their entitlements under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act, and set up two mobile kiosks at fairs and market places to share details about facilities and schemes available for migrant workers.
Facilitating migrant workers’ access to healthcare: Sampark
Radhika M. Chakraborty on June 17th, 2015
Sampark is working to improve living standards by increasing livelihood opportunities for migrant construction workers in Bangalore. Sampark is presently working in 26 labour colonies in Bangalore, and aims to reach out to 5000 construction workers over a period of three years.
Welfare or surveillance? The flip side of migrant registration drives
Radhika M. Chakraborty on June 11th, 2015
The recent initiatives by the state governments of Kerala, Jharkhand and Odisha towards compulsory registration of migrant labourers, are ostensibly being undertaken for the purpose of creating better welfare and support mechanisms. For migrant labourers, procuring an identity card is of primary importance to avail of government benefits–yet ‘identity’ in terms of citizenship and policy is most often linked to a place of ‘permanent residence’, and the mobility of migrants complicates this. These registration drives, by acknowledging and documenting the migrant workers’ presence, could serve to legitimize their work and lives in the city. Yet as a recent piece in the Times of India suggests; prejudices against migrants often entail that this compulsory registration may stem from, and translate into, new forms of discrimination.
DSS celebrates World Environment Day: A photo essay
Radhika M. Chakraborty on June 10th, 2015
Darbar Sahitya Sansad (DSS) celebrated World Environment Day on the 5th of June. To mark the occasion, volunteers undertook awareness campaigns, and planted trees. We present a series of photographs of the DSS migration support team in action.
Odia Plumbers’ Collective meet- celebrating cultural identity: Gram-Utthan
Radhika M. Chakraborty on June 8th, 2015
Gram Utthan has been organising plumbers’ collective gatherings in Mumbai for the past two years. Also being a celebration of Maha Bisuba Panasankranti, Odia Nababarsa and Ambendkar Jayanti, this day was an important one for Mumbai Odia migrants. Nearly 300 Odia migrants celebrated Odia Nababarsa along with the plumbers’ collective meeting.
A card can make U-WIN
Aritra Chakrabarty on June 5th, 2015
In order to bring the unroganized sector workforce under the ambit of social security and welfare system of the government, the Unorganized Workers Act has laid down the process of providing every worker with smart cards. This card, which will issue a unique identification number to every labourer, will help them avail the multiple benefits of health, insurance, banking and pension. This card will replace the existing ones which have been issued under Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY). Creating a mechanism for efficient delivery of welfare benefits to the poorest of the poor and backward section is the foremost responsibility of the welfare state within a democratic system. In such context, every effort that makes use of available resources is commendable. However, what begets argument is the lack of cognizance of the state in taking account of the needs of the beneficiary.
