Shram Shakti: A portal that keeps a record of tribal migrant workers
Jan 24, 2022
India is home to over 104 million tribal people whose livelihoods to a large extent are based on agriculture and forest management. Around 80% of the tribal community relies on these primary sector livelihood sources to make ends meet. However, tribal economy and livelihood strategies have changed dramatically over the years. Tribes are gradually becoming more dependent on urban markets for newer sources of income. Due to limited resources and poor livelihood opportunities in their native areas, many of them are leaving their homes and migrating to urban areas in search of new sources of income and employment.
Tribals, who were accustomed to work centered around agriculture and forest-based resources, are joining the informal labour force as contract labourers in the construction industry and domestic workers in major cities. As migrants, they are exposed to new, unfamiliar, difficult, and sometimes unsafe working conditions, as well as wage harassment issues. To counter this situation, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) launched the Shram Shakti portal or National Tribal Migration Support Portal on January 22, 2021. The Tribal Affairs Minister also unveiled ShramSaathi, a tribal training module, which will ensure that the process of livelihood migration is both productive and safe.
To collect data on village-level outmigration, the portal is available in web form and as a mobile app. The data set captures the basic socio economic profile of migrating tribals, including skill mapping, migration pattern (including duration and season of migration), migration destination, job sector, daily income, and how they access basic services while migrating (health, education, food security, etc).
MoTA has designated Disha Foundation as a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the issue of migration. Its mission is to provide technical assistance to 27 states in the implementation of a migration data repository, an information manual for migrants, and technical assistance to various departments in integrating migrants welfare into existing programmes such as health, education, skilling, and social security.
Disha Foundation, in its capacity as a CoE in migration, provides technical assistance to MoTA and the 27 state governments in the following ways:
During the pandemic, Disha launched a helpline and mobile app called ‘Shram Gaurav’ for migrants to provide them with digitally seamless access to MoTA’s migrant support centers. They intend to scale up their app throughout India in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in order to support as many workers as possible through the digital ecosystem.
By taking such steps, MoTA is assisting in the provision of immediate assistance to tribal and other migrant workers in cities so as to facilitate safe and productive migration.