The Supreme Court has said the process of registration of migrant workers is very slow and it must be expedited so that benefit of schemes can be extended to them amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah said that the Government must ensure that benefit of schemes reach beneficiaries, including migrant workers, and the process must be monitored and supervised.
The court directed the Centre to file a counter-affidavit on the position of the National Database for Unorganised Workers (NDUW) and seek instructions as to what steps have been taken under the new Social Security Code, 2020.
The bench was hearing an application filed by three activists who have sought directions to the Centre and states to ensure food security, cash transfers, transport facilities and other welfare measures for migrant workers who are facing distress due to the curbs clamped in several parts of the country amidst the pandemic.
The Supreme Court was not satisfied with the efforts of the Centre as well as the states on the issue of registration of workers in unorganised sectors.
While stressing on the need to register migrant workers, the apex court said the benefit of schemes can be extended to them after they are identified and registered by authorities.
This move of Supreme Court is also expected to help the millions of garment workers. The industry is majorly having migratory workers and various hubs are facing labour shortage as workers who went to their hometowns have not come back.
The unorganised garment manufacturing sector also has large number of migratory workers.
During last year, various labour host states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar took initiatives of skill mapping of workers and few of them also got jobs near their hometowns.
