The COVID-19 relief package announced by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa offering unorganised sector workers in 12 professions a one-time payment of ₹2,000 will benefit only 3.04 lakh labourers registered with the Karnataka State Unorganised Workers Social Security Board. This is a tiny fraction of the actual workforce in these sectors.
Several unions plan to hold protests against this “woefully inadequate” package and have demanded that it be extended to all workers in the unorganised sector.
Labour Commissioner Akram Pasha said the government had only approved relief packages for those registered with the board and any expansion was a call to be taken by the government. He also appealed for workers to register with the board online. However, he said new registrations would not be covered under the relief package.
“A one-time payment of ₹2,000 amounts to very little. Workers say they feel cheated and insulted by this relief package. We demand a provision of foodgrains and ₹10,000 for at least three months,” said K. Mahantesh, president of Karnataka State Hamali Workers Federation.
Geeta Menon, joint secretary of the Domestic Workers Rights Union, said the estimation is that there are nearly four lakh domestic workers in the city, whereas the board has 50,699 registered across the State. “We had ourselves collected and given applications of 7,000 workers from our union to be registered last year. Of these, only about 500 have been registered. The board has been dysfunctional for a long time. They blamed it [non-registration] on the server being down,” Ms. Menon said.
Nalini Shekhar of Hasiru Dala, which works with ragpickers, said that while there were at least 50,000 ragpickers across the State, the board had 4,902 registered.
Meanwhile, there are complaints that the board hasn’t paid even those registered with it and who were entitled to the relief granted by the State government last year. Sources in the board said barbers and washermen, who were given relief packages during the lockdown in 2020 as well, were yet to be paid fully. “Nearly 16,000 of them have had issues pertaining to the linking of Aadhaar card. Once that is done, they will be paid,” a senior officer said.
No data on cobblers
Only 11 professions are registered with the Karnataka State Unorganised Workers Social Security Board. However, Mr. Yediyurappa has announced relief for people in 12 professions, including cobblers — a category not registered with the board.
“We do not have data on cobblers. While the Chief Minister has announced relief for workers in 12 professions, the total beneficiaries he said would be 3.04 lakh — those registered with the board under 11 professions. There is confusion on cobblers and we are also at a loss as to how to identify the beneficiaries,” said a senior labour officer.
