SU research team begins migrant labour study at Pakyong

GANGTOK, 29 Jan: Sikkim University’s Winter Sojourn Programme team on ‘Migrant Labour’ began its work on 25 January [and will continue till 04 February] with Pakyong, studying the issues related to migrant workers at the airport construction site and will proceed to Darjeeling on 30 Jan to complete the study, informs a press release.
These two sites have been selected after discussions within the university to ascertain the efficacy of the theme as well as the sites and people to be studied. The process started with presentations, whereby the team had to make public the issues which they would be exploring followed by rigorous discussion in which the Vice Chancellor also participated and gave suggestions and inputs, the release mentions.
This year to help the teams get proper information and also to make the winter sojourn more effective in collecting information, SU organised a three-day workshop and invited Prof. Sucharita Sen from Jawaharlal Nehru University to conduct the workshop, in which the methods of field study was discussed in detail.
In Pakyong, the team is studying the migrant labourers who have come to work from various states like West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Orissa. In Darjeeling the team would be engaged in observing the porters who are mostly migrant labourers from Nepal.
The major objective of this theme is to study the socio economic condition of the labour migrants, the release informs. The study also focuses on the issues of social security, health, wage system, hygiene, their recruitment process and support systems and also to analyse the difficulties faced by labourers of India and those coming from Nepal.
The students are working under the guidance of three faculty members Dr. Binu Sundas (Team Leader), Dr. Sebastian and Dr. Mita Poddar. The team is also analysing the perspective of locals in this regard.
Till now the team has found many issues which need attention, of which the presence of labour contractors is a major issue. The team will publish a research paper on the basis of its findings and also submit a report to the University, the release further mentions. The team has also extended its gratitude towards AAI for their support.