REACHING OUT -
Aadhaar seeks to bring migrant workers into the mainstream
BY KAREN LEIGH & MALIA POLITZER ·
NEW DELHI
Migrant workers, a traditionally poor and marginalized group, could be brought further into the main- stream with access to services such as banking, the public distribution system (PDS), the government's flagship welfare programme and social protection.
The Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday in Mumbai with the National Coalition of Organisations for Se- curity of Migrant Workers (NCOSMW), a consortium of 23 organizations that work with migrants in key originating states, stipulating that they will work together to facilitate the enrolment of migrants for unique identity numbers as part of the Aadhaar programme.
“Suppose a migrant labourer is working in Gujarat and he had a dispute with his employer; he's not able to get work in another state because he has no proof that he used to work anyplace,“ said N.K. Sinha, UIDAI's deputy director gener- al, who cosigned the agreement. “That was the migrants' main concern- they want an official ID so they can prove they are who they claim to be.“
He said there are currently 120 million such undocumented migrants working outside their states of origin. Most lack bank accounts, and are unable to easily remit money home, according to Rajiv Khandelwal of NCOSMW.
“One of the big crises that migrants face is a lack of identity. If they cross the state border, they become undocumented aliens in the state,“ Khandelwal said. “They cannot open a bank account, can't access legal services, may be denied PDS, cannot access rations- often at times cannot even access a place to stay.
This is the core of the problem.
One way to solve this is to offer an ID that establishes a person is who they say they are.“
However, UIDAI could face hurdles in registering a fluid population whose millions of members lack permanent addresses, one of the major informational requirements on the UID application.
“The challenges will be huge,“ said S.L. Rao, a former director general of the National Council for Applied Eco- nomic Research. “Rural migrants and people in transit are going to be a problem, and there are going to be people who slip through the net.“
That's where NCOSMW comes in. According to Khandelwal, coalition member organizations have long-standing relationships with migrant communities in key states where they originate from- Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
The coalition plans to activate resource centres aimed at serving migrants at the block level in source states and the city level in key destinations. By going directly to migrant communities, launching educational campaigns about the importance of UIDAI and helping migrants with the registration process, NCOSMW hopes to reach a population that has remained virtually invisible.
“Through our walk-in centres we are able to close the route between source and destination,“ Khandelwal said.
“The problem with migrant workers is you don't know how to find them if they aren't in villages, and even in the cities they are somewhat invisible.
By being present at both the source and major destination, we are able to actually inter- face with them at both ends.“
The agreement could also prompt other communities to join forces with Aadhaar, which aims to provide over 600 million Indians with a universal 12-digit unique identity number in the next four years.
UIDAI chairman and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has said his team's foremost goal is to improve the lives of poor workers in urban and rural areas by providing them ac- cess to services such as government food programmes and personal banking.
“It will provide a lot of incentive for other groups,“ Sin- ha said. “Our objective is to focus on people who generally get neglected by these pro- grammes. NGOs (non-govern- mental organizations, such as NCOSMW) bring people to our registrars and educate them on what Aadhaar will do for them.“
Rao was quick to add that during the general population census, takers “might miss a few million, (but) by and large catch everybody. So you can do the same here. They might miss a bit, but the mi- grants themselves will be caught in the places where they've migrated to. What they will find difficult are the peo- ple in transit, but I suspect that UID authorities will figure out a way to go back and recount“.
The migrant workers pact was followed on Friday by MoUs with the petroleum min- istry and Punjab National Bank to link its all-access numbers with government programmes and banks as part of its nation- wide financial inclusion ef- forts.
karen.l@livemint.com
