Inter-State Migration, Footloose Labour and Accessibility to Health Care: An Exploration among Metro Workers of a Camp in Bengaluru

Abstract

The neoliberal political economy that India adopted in 1991 has brought in huge Foreign Direct Investments, which has led to a perceptible increase in the number of migrants in the major cities of India due to various structural reasons in their place of origin and rapid developmental activities in the cities. Bengaluru has the second largest migrant population after Mumbai, and as per the labour department of the government of Karnataka; there are more than 65 lakh migrant workers in Karnataka, who are involved in various developmental projects, including the metro railway project in Bangalore. Even though the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (KBOCWWB) offers certain social security, including health care for registered migrants, they must wait more than a year to get these benefits. With privatisation and increased out-of-pocket expenditure for health related issues, the migrants face a major hurdle in surviving at the migrated workplaces. Many of them are unaware of welfare boards, and the number of migrants who are registered with them is very small. This paper aims to understand the accessibility of health facilities for migrant workers working in the Bengaluru Metro Project. This research will understand the legal, economic and psychological aspects related to the health status of migrant workers through qualitative study. The study used in-depth interviews to elicit responses from selected inter-state migrant workers to understand their access towards health facilities. The thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed a substantive gap in workers' access to health facilities. The unregulated working conditions have added more stress to the workers, and due to poverty and unemployment back home, these hurdles are not forcing them to go back. More awareness creating interventions from the government can transform their lives.