ABSTRACT
The Labour Commissioner has now, on his RTI page, published state-wise figures on migrant workers and how around 10% of them have been staying in relief camps or shelters, around 43% were in-situ labour at workplaces, and about 46% were staying in other localities where migrants are clustered. While the difference between the Railways' figure and that of the Labour Ministry may be attributed to the fact that the former has been counting the family members of the workers too in its tally, the two-page data released by the Labour Ministry points to the scale of the spread of migrant workers across the country. When it comes to hosting migrant workers in relief camps or shelter homes, data reveals that Kerala provides such facilities to the largest number of 134,384 workers, which constitutes nearly 45% of its migrant work force. In Kerala, more than 1.07 lakh workers also stay at the work sites.
