The invisible workforce: Data collection on migrants tough, but possible

In reality, India does not have reliable data on the migrant worker population

Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar caused quite a stir on social media last week when he stated, on the first day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session, the Centre does not have any data on the death of migrant workers during the lockdown.
 

As is the practice, when MPs raise question in Parliament, the response of the minister is routed through the bureaucracy. The responses are often carefully-crafted to avoid any Parliamentary breach.
 

After pressure from Opposition parties, the labour minister told the Parliament on Saturday that the government is collecting data on suicides by migrant workers from the state