The lack of data on workers, which was evident during the COVID-19-induced lockdown in 2020, would be addressed by the five all-India labour surveys being conducted by the Labour Bureau, Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said on Thursday.
Speaking at the launch of the software and questionnaires for the surveys, Mr. Gangwar said the replies given in the Lok Sabha were akin to “running away from our responsibility”. He was referring to the Ministry’s lack of data on migrant workers when asked about their condition during the pandemic. He said when questions were raised, many people told him that it was the Home Ministry’s remit to give data — how many were walking home and if any unfortunate incidents occurred to them.
The surveys on migrant and domestic workers, those employed by transport sector and by professionals as well as the all-India quarterly establishment-based employment survey would be completed in eight months, said Labour secretary Apurva Chandra.
“As we saw in the pandemic last year, we had data gaps. We have absolutely no data when questions come from Parliament on migrant workers,” he said.
He said the surveys would be conducted using tablets, making the compilation of data much faster than traditional methods.
In a first, they would be conducted in “major regional languages”, Labour Bureau Director General DPS Negi said.
The co-chair of the expert group on labour surveys, former Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Dr. Amitabh Kundu, said the surveys should be comparable and not one-time exercises. However, he said it was important to see how the pandemic had affected the unorganised workers.
“There is absolutely no harm in admitting we were caught unawares by the pandemic,” he said.
Expert group co-chair and Kolkata University professor emeritus Dr. S.P. Mukherjee said an awareness campaign was vital before the survey starts.