The magnitude of the problem Estimated Employment – It is estimated that approximately 35 million or 3.5 crore people were employed in this sector, at of end of 2008. Of this, as much as 73% are unskilled, 27% skilled including engineers and other technical staff.
Estimated Shortage – The shortage skilled and semi-skilled laborers is threatening to slow the construction of projects that are key to the nation's economic growth. Although no formal figures are available, informal inputs from the industry estimate shortage of labour at approximately 30%, while the magnitude is supposedly higher at close to 60% in senior level manpower.
Future projections – Estimates also suggest that if the industry has to grow at the healthy rate it has achieved in past, it requires adding about 15% of the workforce every year. With a conservative 10% growth of workforce every year, India would roughly need 50 million people by 2012.
Going by the same assumptions, we would need to add on an average 4 million of skilled and unskilled workers every year.
There is a whole wide range of unskilled, semi skilled and skilled workers catering to this sector, whose issues as well as needs and aspirations are different. It only makes sense to first understand these, which can safely be assumed as reasons for increasing labour shortage, before coming up with effective solutions.
The unskilled worker’s universe
Migration has been a way of life for labourers who seek work across cities finding it difficult to get absorbed within their localities. For this reason, their children cannot attend a school, nor can they have a regular address or a ration card and are thus deprived from the benefits of public distribution system.
Most Exploited - Normally construction workers are employed through contractors. Their lack of education and skill makes their choice very limited and hence prone to exploitation by the contractors for their benefits.
Poor living conditions – A majority of construction labourers live in sheds made of tin sheets, while minority are blessed with rubber sheet shed and huts. With negligible civic amenities available, their surroundings are totally unhygienic. No proper facilities for drainage, toilet, water, electricity or local medical facilities, hospital, school and fair price shops exist.
Dangerous accident prone work - India has the world's highest accident rate among construction workers, according to a recent study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) showing that 165 out of every 1,000 workers are injured on the job. An example of why this may be so, can be judged by another survey finding that states 55.4% of construction companies did not make provision of 'eye wear for cutting iron rod to their workers. Inspite of such conditions, these workers have no social security or benefits in terms of welfare measures and provisions such as pension or insurance schemes, maternity leave, accident and death claims, concession loans and financial aid for children's education and medical needs. Proper training and safety measures can literally save lives but is often overlooked as deadlines and financial constraints get in the way.
Many laws but no implementation in 13 years - On the surface there are many laws to protect the interests of the workers, however ground realities are quite different from the legislations, which are only good on paper.
After a decade of protests, the workers got reprieve in two acts enacted in 1996, the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996; and the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996. None of these is yet a reality due to ineffective enforcement mechanism and lack of worker awareness about their rights and liabilities of employers under relevant statutes.
In Jan 2009, the Supreme Court scoffed at the governments’ practice of adorning the statute books with ‘beautiful laws’ but leaving them dead. The apex court agreed that in 13 years, the government had done precious little for the welfare of the workers.
Construction Worker’s Federation of India (CWFI) has also been lobbying with the Government and placed their memorandum, before Labour Minister & Overseas Minister in September 2008. A partial relief came by way of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) asking all construction companies to provide all civic amenities, including housing, drinking water and healthcare to workers. However, the impact of such an order remains to be seen.
The basics
While basic facilities and reasonable living conditions would make majority of workers happy, there are many who aspire for more.
Training to move up on occupational scale – Feedback from various training programmes show that unskilled workers are interested in moving up the value chain by learning specific skills and taking up specialties such as masonry, carpentry and bar-bending.
Safety standards to protect their interests – Safety in construction is frequently pushed to the bottom rung of priorities by the builders, contractors and engineers. Enforcement of the above laws will be critical to stop these malpractices at the cost of worker’s lives.
Till such time, the industry could take requisite measures starting with a Construction Safety Manual, being made a part of decision-making criteria to be submitted along with standard tender document strictly enforced by the supervising agency.
And best in class exists to guide way. L&T ECC has a safety record that is among the best when compared to global construction companies. According to L&T management, the appointment of safety officers and audit of safety in equipment and work place practices plus a clearly enunciated checklist of internal procedures have helped the company maintain the lowest accident rates in the industry.
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