Pune Science Weekly: 85% labourers in Pune’s construction industry are unskilled, most from Chhattisgarh, finds study
A new study to trace youth migrations to Pune for construction works has found that 85 per cent of labourers involved in the industry in Pune are unskilled.
Chhattisgarh contributes the highest number of labourers to the city’s civil construction (59 per cent) followed by Uttar Pradesh (19.33 per cent), and Jharkhand (7.33 per cent), the study said. Labourers from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra make up the remaining workforce in the construction industry, according to it.
In all, 300 male and female construction labourers, aged between 15 and 35 years, working at various construction sites within the Pune Municipal Corporation limits were part of the study published in Artha Vijnana journal published by Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE).
According to the study, 77 per cent labourers in the construction industry are men. Most of the skilled labourers belong to Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh whereas the unskilled hail mostly from Jharkhand. The skilled members earn anywhere between Rs 400 and Rs 550 per day while the unskilled get between Rs 180 and Rs 280. The higher daily wage in Pune, the study found, is one of the main attractions for young labourers to migrate to Pune.
Importantly, no female labourer possesses desired skills required for the construction industry, highlighting the limited scope of being entrusted with dignified jobs at the sites.
85.8 per cent of the labourers work on odd jobs as unskilled labourers at construction sites. Others are employed for plastering works (7.5 per cent), RCC works (4.2 per cent) and as masons (2.5 per cent), the study said.
The youth come from poor socio-economic backgrounds whose parents were either agriculture labourers (36 per cent), shepherds (15.96 per cent), cultivators (14 per cent) or construction workers (8 per cent) themselves in their respective home states. 73 per cent of labourers who participated in this study reportedly would send money home to their dependent members numbering three or four members.
The specific migration pattern in the construction industry indicates the lack of livelihood opportunities in the backward states, pushing off its lesser skilled and poor youth towards developed towns and cities, the study noted. The reasons for their migration were less wages (24 per cent), debt (22 per cent), poverty (20 per cent) and lack of employment opportunities (10 per cent).
Over 93 per cent of labourers possessed Aadhaar cards and 90 per cent had valid electoral cards. About 3 per cent belonged to the Scheduled Tribes, 25 per cent under the general category, Scheduled Caste comprised 24 per cent, whereas 12 per cent of the labourers were from the OBC category.
