Highlight
- The center says there was “no mechanism” to collect such data in the districts
- The Ministry of Labor published a note clarifying the welfare measures
- There has been a huge backlash over the response to migrant deaths
New Delhi:
Faced with attacks by the opposition for saying that “there is no data” on the deaths of migrants in the confinement by coronavirus, the government sought today to clarify that there was “no mechanism” to collect such data in the districts.
Officials said data related to birth and death are maintained at the municipal level according to parameters developed over several decades.
“There is no mechanism at the municipal level to collect data on the death of migrant workers in a given district. It is immature to ask questions about the position of the Ministry of Labor on this issue,” the sources said.
There has been a huge backlash over Labor Minister Santosh Gangwar’s response to a question about migrant deaths and whether families have been compensated.
“No such data is kept. The question does not arise in view of the above,” the minister told the Lok Sabha in a written response, prompting anger and criticism from the opposition to an “insensitive” government.
“The Modi government does not know how many migrant workers died and how many jobs were lost during the shutdown. If not counted, haven’t the deaths occurred? It is sad that there was no impact on the government. the world has seen their deaths. There is a Modi government that has no information, “Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
Yesterday, the government said in another response that the mass exodus of migrants at the shutdown was triggered by “fake news” about the length of the shutdown.
Today, the government went into damage control.
The Ministry of Labor published a note clarifying welfare measures, including for migrant workers, during the Covid-19 crisis.
The government has taken “unprecedented steps” for job welfare and job creation across India during the Covid-19 pandemic, the note says, listing those steps.
To another question about the data on migrants in parliament, the government said that “according to the 2016-17 economic survey, it can be estimated that the size of the migrant workforce exceeds 100 million in 2016 in absolute terms.”
Of these, about 1 crore returned to their home states during the shutdown, the ministry said.
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