'Guest worker' conundrum: Kerala is facing its own migrant labour crisis

Inter-state workers account for over a quarter of Kerala's workforce, yet they remain among the most mistreated in this communist-ruled state

Chaos reigned at a Kitex Garments unit in Kerala last Christmas night, when a group of migrant workers ran riot, injuring eight policemen and damaging several police vehicles. Around 174 migrant workers from the Northeast, Jharkhand and West Bengal have been arrested although the company claims only 23 were involved in the disturbance.

This then became part of an ongoing political tiff between Kitex Garments, which runs a political party Twenty 20 and rules four panchayats, and the CPM-led government. Local CPM leaders are blaming the company for the violence and the company claims “innocent workers were made scapegoats only because of political animosity towards the company”.

This incident is just one of a series that have erupted over the past few years and it reflects an ironic development. The state, which is one of the largest exporters of labour to the Gulf, US and Europe, is now facing its own migrant labour crisis.  Over the past four years, police and investigative agencies have been chasing alleged Bodo militants, Maoists, illegal Bangladeshi and Myanmar labourers and even sympathisers of the Al- Qaeda affiliates who hide in plain sight among Indian labourers from other states. Companies such as Kitex claim to have a clear verification process and its labour is entirely on its payrolls, it is the larger set of workers outside this formal chain or “foot-loose” labourers that is causing the authorities headaches.

According to state planning board estimates, the state had 3-3.5 million migrant workers, though the actual number could be 4 million, around 12 per cent of Kerala’s total population. This could swell to 5.5 million by 2030. Other-state migrants now account for 26.3 per cent of Kerala’s total workforce; in districts such as Ernakulam, the share could be as high as 57 per cent.

Of this number, close to 2 million are employed in construction, followed by manufacturing, agriculture and low-paid service sectors such as hotels and the retail trade. Based on another planning board study, these migrant workers in Kerala are estimated to be remitting Rs 750 crore annually from Kerala to their native states. It pegs the average monthly income per migrant at Rs 16,000, around Rs 3,500 less than their local counterparts.

The government refers to them as “guest workers”, a term used by former finance minister Thomas Isaac in his 2018 Budget. The term is criticised globally for its derogatory connotations but Isaac was censured on the grounds that Indians cannot be guests in their own country.

This is just one indicator of the plight of this cohort of workers in a state ruled by a party that, ideologically at least, champions workers’ rights. “The life of other-state workers in the unorganised sector is sheer misery. Many of them earn wages that are 20-30 per cent lower than those earned by locals and they are treated as second-class citizens, almost like a cattle class,” said Kochouseph Chittilappilly, chairman of V-Guard Industries.

Anyone travelling through places such as Perumbavoor or Kaloor in Kerala can see these labourers waiting on the streets for daily work. They live on the margins, in shanties, with employers not even enrolling them as part of existing government schemes. In several hostels, including those in the organised sectors, 20-25 people live in places built to accommodate 10. The planning board report stated that more than half these migrants are suffering from diabetes, blood pressure, cardiovascular problems, HIV-AIDS, cancer, limb injuries due to accidents, and depression.

“Kitex has formal employees and better facilities. On the other hand, 99 per cent of such people working in the state are informal employees denied even the basic facilities according to state standards,” said Benoy Peter, executive director of Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, an NGO working among migrants. Only around 13 per cent of them are part of the Awaz Health Insurance Scheme by the state government and 44 per cent do not use formal banking services.

According to the state government’s Norka (Non-resident Keralites Affairs) department, around 4 million people from the state live overseas, 1.3 million in other Indian states. Overseas Keralites account for around 20 per cent of India's remittances of $87 billion as of 2021 (World Bank estimates). Remittances constitute 35-40 per cent of Kerala’s Net State Domestic Product.    

There is, however, no separate department for the well-being of inter-state workers, who have migrated to take advantage of a labour shortage in the state. Yet, these workers are driving the local economy by spending around Rs 10,000 crore a year in the state economy, based on the government estimates.

“Because of the migrants, Kerala’s local economy is thriving. In Kitex we have kept a balancing act of keeping 49 per cent migrant workers and all of them have proper documents, but there are sectors and industries that have 99-100 per cent of other-state workers. Unfortunately, they were not given any proper identification and a lot of people are exploiting them,” said Sabu M Jacob, promoter and managing director of Kitex Garments.

Perhaps part of the neglect and poor treatment is driven by the fact that, as Peter pointed out, “In terms of wages, though they earn less than locals, the informal sector workers in Kerala are getting the highest wages in the entire subcontinent.”

After a murder of a student a few years ago in which an Assam migrant was involved, local activists such as Peter allege that there is a tendency among the authorities and locals to demonise migrants and target them for crimes. “Except for a very few people, all of them are here to have better living for their families back home. It is almost like West Asia for Keralites, the only difference is the majority of them are not properly educated. Steps should be taken to educate at least their upcoming generation,” Peter added.