Emerging challenges of internal migrant workers in India: a need for law and governance

Internal migrants constitute a crucial part of the workforce in India. It has the potential for poverty reduction as it involves the poorer sections from the poorer regions in various economic sectors. Most industries would not have existed without internal migrant labourers because they are the backbone of various economic sectors, from rag-picking jobs to all sorts of key sources to the country's overall economic development. Even though migrant workers play a vital role in various sectors, they cannot sustain themselves during the lockdown. Migrant workers are highly vulnerable and exposed to occupational hazards and health risks. Therefore, this paper attempts to study the causes of the low living standards of internal migrants, analyse the inadequacies in accessing the social security measures and address the research gap on the issue of policy framework in order to respond to the challenges faced by the migrant workers.