Post Covid-19 Revive & Rebuild – Migrant Workers

The pandemic has destroyed millions of jobs, rendering youth, especially male, jobless. It would be months before the business-as-usual would return. Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers – finding themselves suddenly out of work, unable to pay rent or to feed themselves, have made a desperate attempt to go back to their villages. These workers would also be wary of returning to cities in a hurry. Many of them have been rounded up by authorities to be placed in makeshift shelters. This unproductive time can be utilized to train them for the future. 

India's villages have remained largely unaffected by Covid 19. It is time to train these youth not only for city-bred jobs, but also for rural livelihoods that are likely to see a surge in Healthcare, Construction, Logistics, Agriculture, Dairying and Floriculture.

Yuva Parivartan has designed short-term training programs in Agriculture, Healthcare, Logistics, Construction etc. that will equip the migrant population to earn livelihoods.

Apart from villages, Yuva Parivartan is already approaching migrant labourers currently residing in relief/shelter camps after speaking to the concerned local authorities to conduct the skilling programs, based on the suitability and livelihood opportunities.

Providing short term skill training programs will enable the migrant workers to learn a skill and earn a livelihood with immediate effect post the lockdown period.

Through skill training programs we also aim to improve the earning capacity & social protection of the migrant labourers. Migrants form the largest part of India's vast unorganized work sector. Their entry into the labour markets is marked with several endemic disadvantages. Devoid of critical skills, information and bargaining power, migrant workers often get caught in exploitative labour arrangements that forces them to work in low-end, low-value, hazardous work. A skill will not only improve the quality of self and wage livelihoods; it will contribute to the overall well-being of the worker.