Jharkhand Integrated Healthcare Response Grant Request

PHIA Foundation has managed the State Migrant Control Room (SMCR) under the support of the Department of Labour, Employment, Training and Skill Development, Government of Jharkhand since its inception last year. This was in response to the need of the migrant labourers of Jharkhand origin working for intrastate, interstates and international migrants in reaching them in emergency needs, standard, bringing back to the state of Jharkhand and even helping them in distress conditions and sorting them with counselling, relief measures, grievance redressal mechanisms and addressing issues of the migrants in various ways.

The information from the calls from source to the destination of the migrants was converted into quantitative and qualitative data sets, analysed, and converted into daily reports. The control room thus acts as a bridge connecting between the government and migrants and it provides the state an impetus to address and plan for inclusive employment and economic development within the state.

In the coming plans the State migrant control room would like to work for Safe and Responsible Migration Initiative (SRMI) both connecting the source and destination to ensure safety, dignity and social security benefits for workers migrating out of the state.

For the COVID 19 response PHIA Foundation is working with its partners on the ground to reach out to those in dire need. In Jharkhand specifically, PHIA is working in partnership with the Government of Jharkhand and has been instrumental in establishing and managing a COVID 19 Migrant Labour Helpline through which it has tracked 10,78,662 stranded migrant workers from Jharkhand at various locations around the country from 27 March till 16 August 2021.

Vision

It envisions a society in which migrants and all workers are entitled to secure dignified life, access to fair, decent and safe employment through improved labour standards, wages, greater access to social security safety net and working conditions at source and destination states.

Key Objectives

• Institutionalize mechanisms to promote safe and responsible migration, reduce distress migration, improve resilience and empower them to exercise rights and entitlements for advancement of living standard.
• Develop a monitoring and tracking structure through evidence-based mapping and family-based livelihood profiling of the workers.
• Empower communities with knowledge, information and skills to exercise their rights and entitlements for safe and dignified lives.
• Strengthen implementation of Interstate Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) Act, 1979 or the relevant Law enforceable to safeguard migrant workers and reduce distress migration.
• To conceive long-term sustainable economic development plans for migrant workers. This can be achieved by multi- departmental convergence.
• Ensure interstate coordination between source and destination states to secure access to social security for workers of Jharkhand and provide optimal support to them in terms of safeguarding policies, wages and related benefits, gender equality, social security and other Government schemes.
• To diversify the work of the Migrant Labour Control Room (MLCR) and strengthen it to take the additional responsibility of managing the Covid Helpline 104.
• To support the state government in further planning and on policy level decisions on the issue of migrants.
• To reach out to the stranded labourers/needy persons to accelerate the relief works.