[1]After the preceding declaration of Lockdown due to the outbreak of COVID-19 known as pandemic had led to the Lockdown all across the country, leaving massive migrants in magnitude jobless and without food and water and also no means of necessities &evicted led to the abrupt displacing them as Pandemic crisis rattled the conscience of the nation.
The haunting and chasing extracts of these individuals who have been assailing and controverting the law, preserving the work environment or places, keeping the secure removal from each other and not brimming or crowded the conveyance or means of transport including the trains and buses but attempting to travel hundreds of kilometres in the absence of any transport is attributed to regulatory inadequacies.
[2]However, in the current COVID-19 scenario, when analysing the appendages and adversities that face the problems – most rural – urban migrant workers in the informal or unorganized sectors. They have precarious lives and livelihoods and they get their meagre daily earnings allowance in villages from saving.
[3]It is let-down and pity to see all these migrant labourers walking for days together to reach back their respective native places in the process, some of them had lost their lives due to accidents.
There were many pleas were file in court seeking relief for these migrant workers but the court denied so.
But, as another 53 days announcing of the lockdown, and the migrants hit the road to get home, the centre government has proclaimed a portal with a national stranded migrant’s database in an effort to streamline their movement.
The home ministry secretary Ajay Bhallaon Saturday wrote to all the states, with respect to the informing them of a National Migrant Information System (NMIS), an online dashboard developed by the NDMA.
As we all are aware the government had commenced with the movement of workers through buses and “Shramik ’’ special trains which would help them in returning back to their respective home towns . so as to pick up or catch the information with respect to the movement of these migrant workers and simplify and facilitate the smooth movement of stranded people across the states, the National disaster Management authority had developed an online dashboard namely, national migrant information system on the existing NDMA-GIS portal.
Knowing about the, national migrant information system that the means of this transportation services for these migrant workers through the on-going recent COVID-19 catastrophe or calamity are being facilitated through operating these Shramik special trains and buses. These are planned with the cooperation of the origin state, destination state and the transport provides ( railway , or buses,) there are many issues involved in the movement of these migrants including contact tracing , planning of quarantine facilities in destination states, planning of return. When the migrants want to return etc. so far, it is expected that about 3.5 lakh migrant workers have been moved in 350 trains. More such journeys are being planned out.
In addition, to provide facility of contact tracing, both Individual particulars and spatial identifiers (origin, destination address) need to be captured.
It may be recognised and further noted that many of these workers may have been undertaken the reverse journeys in the near upcoming future. A prepared and ready database can be of more help in planning the return journeys of these migrant workers in more organised, methodological and systematic manner.
The statistics and data of these people have been tracked down and handled by States / districts. There is no conjoint or common platform where the exact statistics and data can be viewed for decision making process.
There is a potential scope to streamline the operations. Automation of the process of labour migration will provide a central repository, which can be used by each stakeholder with their login credentials as a decision support tool.
While keeping this in mind, NDMA has developed a national migrant information system (NMIS) dashboard on the existing NDMA-GIS portal.
The national migrant information system:
This NDMA has established and developed a geo-spatial platform as a decision support system for current pandemic situation.
In the portal various dashboards, have been created i.e. public dash board, egoistic management risk index, quarantine alert etc which are being used by the states for containment of spread of coronavirus.
[4] The NMIS-following components:
- [5]The database management of the migration of stranded and deserted individual’s states/UT’s ministry of railways and other stakeholders would be able to access the portal for decision support.
- State can upload individual data on the portal using the application provided to them. As many states have already collected migrant data, this can be integrated with the NDMA data base through API.
- The key data related and pertaining to the persons migrating can be standardized for uploading such as name, age, mobile no, Aadharnumber,and originating& destination district, persons accompanying data of travel etc. which already states are collecting. With this data states will be able to visualize how many people are going out from where and how many are reaching to which place and where. Therefore will be able to know about logistics requirement.
- The mobile numbers of people can be used for contact tracing and movement monitoring during COVID-19.
- The movement of trains will be subject to consent of destination states taking in to account the quarantine capacity, logistical requirement for further travel etc. when the origin and destination states agree on number of people and dates, railways will book the trains.
- Each migrant is generated Unique ID, which can be used for all transactions. The IP’s of people moving by a particular train, will be given to railway by the origin of states, when giving the requisitions of trains. In this way the data will be visible able to destination states too and can be used for further monitoring.
- It may be also recognised and noted that the system may not require any substantive additional work on part of the field of officials. it will also not take away the governance power from the state government , within the overall guidelines of MHA.
The key features of NMIS are as follows which applies to among other :
- The standardized data model with proper state or district ID
- Auto –generation of Unique ID for each request.
- Auto –generation of unique ID for each passenger.
- Validation checks for state ID, district ID, name, mobile, age.
- Auto- population of dates in approved workflow.
- Drop down selection wherever possible
- Capturing data create ID details with date / time in an automated way for validation.
- Table view with export option
- Messages for incorrect data.
Benefits:
- The states can plan out and set up their logistics much more meritoriously and effectively. They will have exact number with details before the migrants arrive.
- All the origin of states will also have all the data at one place for transportation as well as future planning.
- Such as the transportation levels have been increasing manual system will become challenging to enforce and may lesd to delays. On line centralised portal will give seamless connectivity.
- Further at the later stage, railways can examine giving a passengers manifest till coach level, which would serve the purpose for the nodal officers to be assigned. To each coach and each quarantine facility and services for system of embarkment at destination to be seamless.
- NDMA central repository can be taken into consideration as a plan and also keeping in touch with all the migrants for giving them the benefits by states ( if any ) or return journeys .
- Migrants will be sent with an alert on their cells for various data like journeys, coach number ( if allotted by the railways ) and for future beneficiary transfer or contact employees .
OUTCOMES
- The standardized national migration information system.
- The centralized system for facilitating the all stranded and deserted persons
- The seamless communication in continuous with all the state through the portal.
- Transferring of NOC from destination states to the portal.
- The obtainability of these figures and database on the single platform for effective utilisation by various stakeholders.
- Considering the easy availability and accessibility of data through credentials at centralized location for planning such as the logistics tracing, tracking, isolation arrangements and quarantine facilities .
- There will be an easy monitoring of these stranded migrant workers through the National migrant information system .
IN MY OPINION
According to view, the government has taken a good step to preserving the movements of these migrants will help them in tracking them and also assisting with them by providing food and water.
The host states must be made accountable for the safety and well-being of migrant workers. They should be protected under the article 21 of the constitution of India as India is a welfare state, that all the states must be coming together to render assistance to these poorer sections of the society.
Article Written By-Sakshi Mehta
[1]https://indianexpress.com/article/india/to-streamline-movement-of-migrants-centre-launches-portal-6413670/
[2]https://scroll.in/latest/962150/coronavirus-centre-launches-portal-to-monitor-movement-of-migrants-asks-states-to-upload-details
[3]https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/centre-launches-online-dashboard-for-monitoring-movement-of-migrant-workers/articleshow/75779395.cms
[5]https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/MHA%20DO%20Lr.%20Dt.%2016.5.2020%20to%20Chief%20Secretaries%20and%20Administrators%20regarding%20online%20National%20Migrant%20Information%20System%20Dashbord.pdf
