REACHING OUT
Aadhaar seeks to bring migrant workers into the mainstream…….KAREN LEIGH & MALIA P OLITZER
Aadhaar seeks to bring migrant workers into the mainstream…….KAREN LEIGH & MALIA P OLITZER
Migrant workers, a traditionally poor and marginalized group, could be brought further into the main- stream with access to services such as banking, the public distribution system (PDS), the government’s flagship welfare programme and social protec- tion.
The Unique Identity Author- ity of India (UIDAI) signed a memorandum of understand- ing (MoU) on Thursday in Mumbai with the National Co- alition of Organisations for Se- curity of Migrant Workers (NCOSMW), a consortium of 23 organizations that work with migrants in key originat- ing states, stipulating that they will work together to facilitate the enrolment of migrants for unique identity numbers as part of the Aadhaar pro- gramme.
Suppose a migrant labourer is working in Gujarat and he had a dispute with his employ- er; he’s not able to get work in another state because he has no proof that he used to work anyplace, said N.K. Sinha, UIDAI’s deputy director gener- al, who co-signed the agree- ment. That was the migrants’ main concern–they want an official ID so they can prove they are who they claim to be.
He said there are currently 120 million such undocument- ed migrants working outside their states of origin. Most lack bank accounts, and are unable to easily remit money home, according to Rajiv Khandelwal of NCOSMW.
One of the big crises that migrants face is a lack of iden- tity. If they cross the state bor- der, they become undocu- mented aliens in the state, Khandelwal said. They cannot open a bank account, can’t ac- cess legal services, may be de- nied PDS, cannot access ra- tions–often at times cannot even access a place to stay.
This is the core of the problem.
One way to solve this is to offer an ID that establishes a person is who they say they are.
This is the core of the problem.
One way to solve this is to offer an ID that establishes a person is who they say they are.
However, UIDAI could face hurdles in registering a fluid population whose millions of members lack permanent ad- dresses, one of the major infor- mational requirements on the UID application.
The challenges will be huge, said S.L. Rao, a former director general of the Nation- al Council for Applied Eco- nomic Research. Rural mi- grants and people in transit are going to be a problem, and there are going to be people who slip through the net.
That’s where NCOSMW comes in. According to Khandelwal, coalition member or- ganizations have long-stand- ing relationships with migrant communities in key states where they originate from– Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
The coalition plans to acti- vate resource centres aimed at serving migrants at the block level in source states and the city level in key destinations. By going directly to migrant communities, launching edu- cational campaigns about the importance of UIDAI and help- ing migrants with the registra- tion process, NCOSMW hopes to reach a population that has remained virtually invisible.
Through our walk-in cen- tres we are able to close the route between source and des- tination, Khandelwal said.
The problem with migrant workers is you don’t know how to find them if they aren’t in villages, and even in the cities they are somewhat invisible.
By being present at both the source and major destination, we are able to actually inter- face with them at both ends.
The problem with migrant workers is you don’t know how to find them if they aren’t in villages, and even in the cities they are somewhat invisible.
By being present at both the source and major destination, we are able to actually inter- face with them at both ends.
The agreement could also prompt other communities to join forces with Aadhaar, which aims to provide over 600 million Indians with a univer- sal 12-digit unique identity number in the next four years.
UIDAI chairman and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has said his team’s foremost goal is to improve the lives of poor workers in urban and ru- ral areas by providing them ac- cess to services such as gov- ernment food programmes and personal banking.
It will provide a lot of in- centive for other groups, Sin- ha said. Our objective is to fo- cus on people who generally get neglected by these pro- grammes. NGOs (non-govern- mental organizations, such as NCOSMW) bring people to our registrars and educate them on what Aadhaar will do for them.
Rao was quick to add that during the general population census, takers might miss a few million, (but) by and large catch everybody. So you can do the same here. They might miss a bit, but the mi- grants themselves will be caught in the places where they’ve migrated to. What they will find difficult are the peo- ple in transit, but I suspect that UID authorities will figure out a way to go back and recount.
The migrant workers pact was followed on Friday by MoUs with the petroleum min- istry and Punjab National Bank to link its all-access numbers with government programmes and banks as part of its nation- wide financial inclusion ef- forts.