Cities should be made more inclusive in post COVID world

The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), in partnership with All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG), the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS), and Foundation EMDA Southasia, initiated a series of dialogues on the way forward for district and municipal administration to deal with the impacts of COVID-19. Through the Webinar series, the organisations wish to reach out to municipal officials and the general public to try and understand the problems faced by each of them

The first edition of the series focussed on the topic “Urban Labour Rights and State Response in times of COVID-19”.
G Mathivanthanan, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Government of Odisha; Ravi Srivastava, Professor and Director, Centre for Employment Studies, Institute for Human Development (IHD); and Divya Varma, Programme Manager, Centre for Migration and Labour Solutions, Aajeevika Bureau were in the panel. Sanjeev Chopra, Director, LBSNAA, chaired the session and Vidya Bhushan, Coordinator, National Centre for Urban Affairs, LBSNAA, coordinated the discussion.
Chopra in his opening remarks mentioned the need for the central government to learn from the Government of Odisha and work on the development of a fourth tier of governance for improving the living standards of the labour sector. He said that the combined efforts of Slum Development Associations (SDAs) and Self Health Groups (SHGs) will uplift the urban space for them.
He also informed that in the model that the Government of Odisha implemented, the SHGs worked as the implementing partner for the program and were paid almost 7.5 per cent of the project cost. This amount was paid to the workers using the Direct Benefit Transfer
(DBT) method.
This initiative consisted of only labour-intensive work which created maximum vacancy. It also included different types of projects such as open space development, micro activity centres, rainwater harvesting, plantations, stormwater drainage and beautification of walls with awareness messages.
The estimated project cost is `140 crore and it will work as the blueprint of the future pan-India Urban MNREGA Program.
The next speaker was Srivastava who addressed the issue of migrant workers and the challenges that they face. He addressed the interconnection between rural and urban areas via migration. He said, “The policies should work towards decreasing the inequalities but the existing policies are doing the opposite of this.” He added that state-level programs should address the issue of precarity among people. These are the people who live in the outskirts of a city and have weak citizenship rights. He said that these people suffer exclusion on the basis of Identity, eligibility and location.
He also addressed the issue of unemployment in both rural and urban areas and insisted on the need of Urban MNREGA while suggesting various actions that governments can take at the centre, state and urban levels. For the centre, he suggested that it should address growing inequality, precarity and portability of social protection entitlements. At the state level, reduction of exclusionary barriers and creation of a framework for inclusive urban-regional planning may be the way forward. He added that at the urban level, it should create more inclusive cities and
have an urban employment guarantee program.

alternate employment is not a solution of the country’s large scale unemployment; rather we should focus on skill development so that there is a greater proportion of skilled, quality workforce. there should be a digital platform to record details of the migrants so that employing them in different sectors/trades becomes easier for the government and adds to the efficiency of the program

G Mathivathanan brought forth the issue of reverse migration and gave detailed information of the Odisha government’s project for providing employment to the poor in the time of crisis. He said that alternate employment is not a solution to the issue; rather we should focus on skill development so that there is a greater proportion of skilled, quality workforce. He suggested that there should be a digital platform to record details of the migrants so that employing them in different sectors/trades becomes easier for the government.
Divya Varma spoke on gender impact of COVID-19 on female migrant workers. She said that around 85 per cent of domestic workers were not paid during the pandemic period. She said, “People have started using more technology for household chores which significantly decreased demand. Thus, in order to look for work, they had to relocate very frequently, making the lockdown even more difficult for them.” There is a prevalence of sexual harassment of female workers by their employers. She suggested that the Rain Basairas (night shelters) should be made more gender-neutral so that women get a safe place to live.