Protecting the Vulnerable: Providing

social welfare to informal sector

workers

Kamgaar Vikas Kendra

Rucha Kavitkar, Namrata Kappe, Vishal Tambe,

Poonam Darade, Kaushal Shah

I dia’s la our for e is predo i a tly u orga ized, u skilled, poorly paid, of low productivity and unprotected and

construction sector contributes to a large section

Problems:

1. Work is often carried out under hazardous conditions with high accident rates due to lack of

safety consciousness

2. Constantly relocating homes from worksite to worksite and living in impromptu housing without

clean water and sanitation

3. Children are particularly vulnerable to accidents on the worksites and cannot be educated

because of the constant relocation

4. Laws and regulations applicable for the construction industry but their implementation has

been notably poor

5. Poverty, lack of literacy and lack of awareness about their rights and potentialities contribute to

their inability to organize themselves and they are often exploited by those who hire them often

do not get minimum wages

6. the non-availability of jobs on a permanent basis and lot of idle time between job which results

in less efficiency and productivity

7. Lack of opportunities to learn additional skills

8. Discrimination and exploitation are commonly seen towards women working in the

construction industry with respect to their wages and safety

Building a network of institutions deploying NGOs , Volunteers

and government organization working in tandem towards

education , skill development and social welfare

Snapshot of solution proposed

• Network will ensure that the workers that migrate continue to be in touch with the organization

• Working on basic education of construction workers kids

• Working towards empowering the workers by reducing their exploitation by contractors ,encouraging them to pursue self employment.

Building Network and

Skill Development

• network of centers called as Kamgaar Vikas Kendra to look after various welfare facilities, skill development and education

• The network will use volunteers , NGOs and work in coordination with the contractors and maintain data repository

• Encourage self-e ploy e t s he es. It will ai tai a Tool Ba k fro whi h it a rent out machinery and equipment for workers on a rental basis which enables workers to get self-employed

• Awareness among women against exploitation

Model of Implementation

• KVK will be proactive and not reactive

• It will bring together all the schemes which are currently being offered by different NGOs and organizations under one roof.

Advantages over Existing

system

We will build a network of volunteers working for

Kamgar Vikas Kendra Update & verify

database

Edu ate workers’ children

Train workers

Activities to

be

performed

1.Create database

By Visiting construction

sites to collect the data

of the construction

workers

2.Data collection from

unions and associations

working for this

construction workers

1. Engaging the

construction

workers children

in learning

sessions at

construction sites

2. Opportunity to

join schools

1.Knowledge session on hygiene

, welfare schemes oriented

towards the construction

workers, safety measures

2. Training sessions for the skill

development and more skills for

self development

3. Tool bank maintained for the

self-employment of the workers

People who

can be

recruited as

volunteer

Researchers for

collecting the data of

construction sites

locations and statisticians

who will create a

database of the workers

on the construction sites

Graduates who

will be teaching

them basic

learning's required

to read and write

Experienced workers or skilled

workers (these will be identified

with the help of the contractors

while the research conducted

while data collection)

Recruitment of officers , volunteers and deploying them to

various departments

Understanding Needs

• Volunteers required for

• Understanding the requirements for urban and rural area

• Survey of construction workers as per district and identifying grievances

• Direct interaction with workers and contractors

• Imparting education and creating social awareness

• Identifying volunteers to impart skill based training

Recruitment

• Officer would be selected from government offices and NGOs

• Volunteers would be invited by the officers from existing NGOs and other organizations

• Interns can be hired as and when required by reaching out to colleges

• Balwadi teachers can be hired for baby care and basic education of kid

Awareness Building

• Large scale media and offline campaign to support the volunteer recruitment drive

• Both traditional and social media will be utilized to spread the message

• Posters/ Banners to be put up at near construction sites and Naka markets

Training of Volunteers and Management

Training

•Training to be imparted to volunteers that covers

•sustainable enterprise development

• the process of social dialogue

• the practice of collective bargaining to equip worker/union leaders and representatives

•specifically cover the topics of basic Indian business and labour economics

•methods of data analysis

•basic financial accounting including annual financial statements

• terminologies used in the various reports of the company and its management

•skills analysis

Management

•Volunteers will be divided into three parts as follows:

• Imparting Education to Children and Construction workers

•Creating social awareness

• Imparting skill related training

•Collecting data

•Coordinating with the workers

Implementation

Skill training:

It can arrange training programmes for the

workers like plumbing and arch-welding. It

also implements schemes of self-

e ploy e t s he es. It ai tai s a Tool Ba k fro whi h it re ts out a hi ery and equipment for workers on a rental

basis which enable workers to get self-

employed.

Social Awareness:

It undertakes welfare and health activities in

the interests of health of workers. It arranges

AIDS/HIV campaign. When workers suffer

injuries while at work, The Kendra helps them

in getting compensation under the

appropriate law. It will ensure drinking water,

accommodation, employment regulation,

payment of minimum wages, equal wages for

women

Collecting data:

Volunteers will collect data of the workers and

this will be stored in a database .This will be

shared across network of these KVKs .This will

ensure that the workers are in touch with the KVK

even if they have to migrate for work. For any

construction activity or repair work the needy

customers approach the centre which discusses

their needs, fixes the wage rates for the

construction workers and sends suitable workers

from the pool of workers who have

registered themselves with the centre.

Imparting education:

Volunteers will impart education to children of

the construction workers at the construction

sites. They will also provide education facilities

to the workers.

Organization structure

headquarter in India

• Managers of state level centers will report here

Co-ordination center for major

states

• One state level manager who will monitor all the district centers and report to the headquarter manager

Center for each district

• One chief controller to monitor following activities:

• creating, updating & verifying database of construction workers and their families by visiting construction sites

• Updating the website of activities conducted at respective center

• Conduct trainings for workers

• Maintaining a tool bank for self-employment of construction workers which will help them to take the tools on rent

Funding Required for Kamgar Seva

Kendra

Fund Required

Organization cost

Infrastructure costs (1.2LPA *

50)

Maintenance cost

(Electricity,Water,Telephone

etc)

(2000*100)

Technology Cost

Hardware costs

(20000 * 100)

Software costs

(1000 * 100)

Salaries

Country Head (7 LPA)

State Head (5

LPA * 15)

District Head

(3.5 LPA * 90)

Volunteer (2.5 LPA *

1000)

Miscellanious

Facility and provision

(1500 * 100)

Risks

• Funds-High dependence on government for funding the full project. If not fully

sponsored by the government then the project will have to be sponsored by the

private corporate companies.

• Migrant workers- Migrant workers also change their jobs in between and get down

to farming during peak seasons. So tracing continuously them down is very

difficult

• It is also very tedious job to find so many volunteers and also keep them motivated

with the job.

References:

• www.labour-rights-india.eu/studies/2_AILS_study.pdf‎(Capacity Building for the Promotion of

Labour Rights for Vulnerable Groups of Workers )

• http://www.cbwe.gov.in

• http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/keyword/construction-worker

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_country

• http://www.iza.org/conference_files/worldb2013/soundararajan_v9070.pdf

• Profile of construction workers commissioned by the WIEGO Network for the Bill & Melinda

Gates Foundation and prepared by Dave Spooner and Annie Hopley.

• Buildi g a d Wood Workers I ter atio al BWI is the glo al u io federatio of u io s representing workers in the Building, Building Materials, Wood, Forestry and Allied sectors

• Ho g Ko g Co federatio of Trade U io s. 2002. High ‘ate of I dustrial A ide ts i the Co stru tio I dustry.

• Building and Other Construction Workers (regulations of Conditions Services) Act, 1996;

Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996