Urban Safety Net

Context: Pandemic witnessed the plight of urban poor, resulting in demands for formulation social security net comparable to rural counterparts.

Need for urban social security net

• Distress within India’s labour force: Increase in agricultural workforce: As per Periodic Labour Force Survey over the previous round in 2017-18 for the first time in the National Sample Survey’s history.
• Concerns compounded by pandemic: Causing loss of employment due to closure of factories, industries compared to rural as agriculture remains mostly unaffected due to pandemic. This led to reverse migration.
• Governance-related issues:
  • Parliamentary standing committee on labour argued that “the plight of urban poor has not received much attention from the government”.
  • Most welfare connected to specific locations, and in particular “home” villages.
  • Inability to expand welfare net amidst pandemic: As fiscal burden would become unmanageable. 

Way forward

• Devise urban MNREGA: As recommended by Parliamentary standing committee.
  • Account for differences in pattern of work and distress across rural and urban areas: Look beyond 100-day job guarantee as work in urban areas are not seasonal and there are many manual labourers in urban areas. (In place of casual labourers in rural areas.)
• Expand welfare net: “One nation, one ration card” during the pandemic revealed the need to design welfare systems that are transferable and mobile. This need to be expanded.
• Initiate urban wage support programmes: Some states have already started experimenting with urban wage support programmes. New studies and pilot implementations are to be devised.
• Long term vision: Should be structural solutions like upskilling and lifelong learning.