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Migration Narratives: The SHRAM Blog

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Legal clinics, BOCW linkages, and mobile kiosks: SSK’s recent interventions

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

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

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 […]

DSS celebrates World Environment Day: A photo essay

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

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.

Legislating child labour: Need for wider social reform

The recent amendments to the Child Labour Act passed by the Cabinet last month allow for children below the age of 14 to work in non-hazardous industries or ‘family businesses’, so long as this does not affect their education. Response to the amendment has been mixed, with some activists calling for a total ban on […]

Pooja’s rescue and return to Odisha: Gram Utthan Case Study

Pooja* was just seventeen years old, and had been employed as a domestic worker in a household in Kolkata from a very young age. Pooja’s father was a migrant labourer who had been working in Kolkata for many years. However due to a severe illness, he returned to Odisha, leaved his daughter in Kolkata to […]

‘Invisible Dangers’: Occupational health issues faced by migrant workers in Ghaziabad

Sahbhagi Shiksha Kendra (SSK)’s report on occupational health issues faced by migrant workers in Ghaziabad systematically catalogues the daily health risks faced by five major occupational groups of migrants in the informal sector. Reviewing the awareness of migrant workers about their rights and entitlements, and highlighting key health concerns, the report presents policy recommendations and […]

Lack of accountability and lost lives: PARDA Case Study

Asha* (18) left her village in Odisha to work at a brick kiln in Telengana in 2014. She secured this work through an agent, and she and her father Vishal* had been working at the same destination since December 2014. In between, Vishal returned to his village to obtaining a BPL card, while his daughter […]

Gram-Utthan celebrates International Labour Day

Labour Day Celebrations were jointly organised by SSSK, Gram-Utthan and the Kanika Nirman Sramik Sangha at Charapada.