Labour dept embraces Hindi, Odiya and Bhojpuri to reach out to migrants
As the host of tens of thousands of workers from other states, the regime is now speaking in their language - be it Hindi or Bhojpuri, Odia or Bengali.
Labour Department officials interacting with migrant workers and handing over pamphlets
CHENNAI: Its staunch and storied resistance to Hindi imposition has not stopped Tamil Nadu from making use of the language as a tool to ensure that the guest workers making a living in the State from far and wide do not feel out of place.
In a bid to make them understand their rights, the State’s Labour department has readied pamphlets in their mother tongues - primarily Hindi and Odia - and are distributing them to the workers from northern states.
Though the DMK is going hammer and tongs against the BJP regime at the Centre for its alleged attempt to force Hindi on states where it is not widely used, its government has adopted a different approach to be labour-friendly.
As the host of tens of thousands of workers from other states, the regime is now speaking in their language - be it Hindi or Bhojpuri, Odia or Bengali.
“The State government prefers the language of the migrant labourers to converse with them and educate them on their rights. It reflects the Dravidian Model government’s core ideology that we are not against Hindi but against its imposition,” said Labour Minister CV Ganesan, recalling the swift action the government adopted to quell the rumour-driven panic that spread among labourers a few months ago. In the last 20 days, the department has been distributing pamphlets in Hindi among migrant workers. They have also translated the pamphlets in Odia to reach out to workers from Odisha.
The handbills have information on welfare and other facilities to be provided to migrant labourers as per the Interstate Migrant Workmen (Regulations of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, benefits of registering in welfare boards, and ways and means to avail the benefits under State government schemes which are designed for unorganised workers, including migrant workers. They also contain information on helplines, and police and labour department officials’ numbers.
“Once it is vetted by people well versed in the language, we will print and distribute it among the labourers from Odisha, who are mostly working in the textile sector in Tirupur and Coimbatore. We started this activity as a part of our outreach programme,” said an official.
Similarly, officials have also been translating the handbills in Bhojpuri, targeting labourers from eastern Uttar Pradesh, western Bihar and northwestern Jharkhand. “They feel comfortable when we speak in their language. It helps to build confidence among them. The new effort (distributing pamphlets in Hindi) further helps our cause. We also encourage them to report any harassment or problems that they face at the workplace,” said a Labour Department official.
Officials attached to the Directorate of Industries and Safety and Health (DISH) are also doing their part in ensuring the rights of migrant labourers. “We ask the employers to issue wage slips in Hindi and English/Tamil with information on the number of workdays and minimum wage. This makes the migrant workers feel confident,” said an official attached to DISH in Coimbatore.
The official added that they have been taking several steps since the pandemic-induced lockdown to ensure safe working conditions for the migrant labourers. “It is a welcome move. It helps many of us to know our rights and will go a long way in creating awareness among us,” said L Sanoj Kumar, a migrant worker in Tirupur, which has the largest number of registered migrant workers in TN web portal.
