In India, urbanisation and city expansion have put a strain on fundamental infrastructure and services such as housing, sanitation, and health. Migrant labourers are the worst hit by the lack of these fundamental necessities. The epidemic of Covid-19 has exacerbated the terrible living circumstances of the poor and migratory workers. All of these issues indicate to the necessity for a strong policy framework that takes into account human rights, property rights, and socioeconomic growth. These policy actions must be in line with SDG 8.8, which calls for a safe and secure working environment for all workers, especially migrants.

Present state of migrants

• Homeless Urban Households: According to India’s 2011 Census, the country’s urban population was at 31.16 percent, with around 4.5 lakh homeless families and a total population of 17.73 lakh without a roof over their heads.
• Migrants and Urban Housing: The great majority of urban residents, particularly migrants, live in substandard housing and congested areas.
  • In India, more than half of urban homes had only one room, with an average of 4.4 people per room.
  • Migrants working in tiny apartments, motels, and residences share their living quarters with their employers.
  • These environments are frequently unsanitary and inadequately ventilated.
• The majority of construction workers live in improvised housing. Casual labourers sleep under bridges and on sidewalks, frequently in groups in unsanitary conditions.

How the pandemic has impacted

• Most workers went home due to the pandemic-induced countrywide lockdown, leaving behind their temporary abodes, while those who were left behind lost their refuge when workplaces were closed.
• Migrants living in leased apartments were unable to maintain their social distance.
• The local people in suburban areas with a large number of migrants urged that they evacuate their homes due to unsanitary circumstances.
• Despite the fact that most state governments urged home owners to waive two months’ rent, migrant workers continued to experience financial challenges.

Schemes

• The Smart Cities Mission chose 100 cities, representing 21% of India’s urban population, for transformation in four stages beginning in January 2016. Proper water supply, reliable energy, sanitation, and inexpensive housing, particularly for the poor, are some of the basic infrastructural features of a smart city.
• The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), which was started in 2005, aims to make the urbanisation process go smoothly. Its goal was to make sure that every home has a tap with a reliable supply of water and a sewer hookup. The initiative is now in its second phase, which aims to make towns more water secure and offer improved facilities for the poor.
• In the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package, ARHCs are envisaged: The government launched the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) for migratory workers and the urban poor as part of the Rs 20 lakh billion Atma Nirbhar Bharat package in May 2020. The goal was to use Public-Private Partnerships to convert government-funded housing in cities into ARHCs, and to offer incentives to diverse stakeholders to build and run ARHCs on their own property.

Issues

• According to a 2020 International Labour Organization (ILO) research on internal labour migration, a lack of sufficient water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities exacerbates the lack of decent housing.
• According to government data, 49 percent of the 5,196 Smart Cities Mission projects for which work orders were issued throughout India’s 100 smart cities have yet to be completed. This gap in implementation raises concerns regarding the effectiveness of novel policy recommendations.
• Rent Increases: Migrant labourers find lodging in slums, which are frequently susceptible to rent increases, and have only the most basic infrastructure and amenities.
• Despite the fact that public toilets have been installed as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, their availability in migrant-dense clusters remains insufficient.

Way forward

• Small and Medium City Redevelopment: Even our non-metropolises have insufficient planning, non-scalable infrastructure, costly housing, and bad public transportation.
• It is critical to focus equally on small and medium cities in order to maintain healthy urbanisation, and to address concerns such as insufficient housing and a lack of essential infrastructure in smaller cities.
• Policymaking in the Housing Sector: The current housing situation indicates that the state and contractors must work together to address housing challenges. It asks for long-term strategy and analysis in the housing industry, as well as greater openness in contract negotiations. Instead of an extreme situation where the owner abruptly raises the rent, the state might investigate the situation to guarantee that the rent evolves in a competitive market for housing.
• Reducing Tenant-Owner Conflicts: The state should guarantee that the area has sufficient access to transportation networks, education, and healthcare while establishing social rental housing. The NITI Aayog working committee established to analyse internal labour has advised that rental housing in the public sector be extended by providing dormitory accommodation. This would make public housing more affordable and lessen landlord-tenant conflict.

How to structure

1. Give an intro about migrant workers and their housing, back ti with data and facts
2. Discuss how the pandemic has affected the said sector
3. Explain the role of government in the growth of India’s urban housing industry- mention schemes
4. Suggest way forward and conclude

Reference:

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/solving-migrant-workers-housing-crisis-7715129