What are labour rules for workers abroad? (GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- The Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments, with the help of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), have started the process of recruiting about 10,000 workers to go to Israel, primarily for construction activities.
- The NSDC website describes it as a “passport to dreams abroad”, and a chance to “discover new horizons in Israel”.
- There are 2,000 openings for plastering workers, 2,000 for ceramic tile workers, and 3,000 each for iron bending and frame workers with monthly salaries of about ₹1.37 lakh (6,100 Israeli shekels). Screenings have started in various locations in Haryana and U.P. with the help of State governments.
Who are opposing the move?
- Trade unions have opposed this move, citing the Emigration Rules under the Emigration Act. They are planning to challenge this employment drive legally.
- As per the central trade unions such a move is against the Indian ethos of bringing back citizens from conflict zones.
- The trade union leaders alleged that the BJP-led government was using unemployment among the youth and workers to further their “politics of hate” to please Israel. Several hundreds of people, meanwhile, turned up at the screening centres in Haryana.
What do the Rules prescribe?
- Workers going to conflict zones or places without sufficient labour protections are required to register with the Ministry of External Affairs’ ‘e-migrate’ portal.
- Passports issued under the ECR (Emigration Check Required) scheme cover workers travelling to 18 countries, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, the UAE, and Yemen.
- Israel is not on this list and the ‘e-migrate’ system will not be used for those going to Israel despite continuing violence due to Israel’s bombing of Gaza.
- The Rules say that no recruiting agent shall collect from the worker service charges more than a maximum of ₹30,000 and the service charges shall include costs of domestic travel or lodging and boarding for conducting of interviews by the recruiting agent. Here, the workers will have to pay a fee to the NSDC, pay for their flight tickets, etc, which will add up to almost ₹1 lakh.
- The unions point out that paid recruitment in a war zone facilitated by governments violates provisions of the Emigration Act. The MEA spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said India is satisfied with Israel’s labour standards.
What are the international practices?
- The international practices for protection of migrant workers are governed by two conventions of the International Labour Organisation: the Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) and Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143).
- While India has not ratified both conventions, Israel had ratified the 1949 convention in 1953.
- The 1949 convention says: “Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes that it will, so far as national laws and regulations permit, take all appropriate steps against misleading propaganda relating to emigration and immigration. For this purpose, it will where appropriate act in co-operation with other Members concerned.”
- According to a 2017 report prepared by the ILO, international migration has grown significantly in the last two decades. The number of migrants from Asia to the Arab states has more than tripled, from 5.7 million in 1990 to 19 million in 2015.
What is the way forward?
- The global unemployment rate is set to increase in 2024 while growing social inequalities remain a concern, said the ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2024 report. Joblessness and the jobs gap have both fallen below pre-pandemic levels but global unemployment will rise in 2024.
- It added that many low- and middle-income countries will experience a demographic transition after 2030 and asked the countries to design sensible migration policies and skilling initiatives to support and develop local labour markets with growing populations.
- In 2019, a report of the Parliament Standing Committee on External Affairs had asked the Centre to draft a migration policy.
- The panel, then headed by MP Shashi Tharoor, said it is concerned to note that the existing institutional arrangements for the protection, safety and welfare of Indian emigrants are based on inadequate data infrastructure.
Urbanisation in Bhubaneswar impacts winter temperatures
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Context:
- More than half of the world’s population now resides in the cities and are thus vulnerable to urban climate change such as increased heat stress and extremes.
- Globally, cities contribute to more than 80% of the global GDP and 75% of all greenhouse gases/carbon emissions. Thus, they are both contributors to climate change and also potential agents for tackling it. However, their representation in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans is inadequate.
SDG 11:
- The inclusion of the 11th sustainable development goal (SDG) exclusively focusing on cities and the formation of groups like the U-20 under the G-20 umbrella have acknowledged the need for city-level action plans.
- The ministerial meeting on urbanisation and climate change at COP-28 stressed the importance and role of cities in achieving climate change mitigation and adaptation targets. These initiatives show the importance attached to cities and their role in global affairs including climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Case of Bhubaneswar:
- Bhubaneswar, a tier-II city in the eastern State of Odisha, is rapidly urbanising in recent times. For example, the built-up area in the city increased by about 166% during the period 2004-2015.
- Studies using satellite-based observations showed a nighttime heat dome over the city with an elevated temperature (about 1C). Additionally, Bhubaneswar has warmed at a faster rate, with almost about 0.68C enhancement in the last two decades.
- Such warming is particularly higher in the newly urbanising areas in the periphery of the city, experiencing almost doubled warming over the same period.
Computer-based simulations:
- As part of a larger effort in implementing the cities digital twin at the School of Earth Ocean and Climate Sciences at IIT Bhubaneswar, computer-based simulations were carried out to mimic the Bhubaneswar urban growth and hence change in the micro-climate and their relation to different factors such as climate change, city expansion, change in vegetation cover, etc.
- It was quantified that almost 60% of the overall warming observed over the city is due to local activities/changes.
Key observations:
- In addition to the warming due to climate change, there is additional warming due to the trapping of heat by the concrete and asphalt materials used to build the city. The decreased evapotranspiration due to the replacement of natural surfaces with artificial impervious surfaces is also contributing to the observed warming.
- The inclusion of a minimalistic 3-D structure of the city within these simulations for winter time showed enhanced warming of almost 0.4C in the eastern lowland regions of the city mostly as a consequence of topographical asymmetry.
- There was further reduction in the wind speeds by about 0.2 metres per second, in the eastern fringes of the city, limiting dispersion of heat.
- In contrast, in the western region, the influence is nullified, possibly due to lower surface specific humidity affecting longwave radiation in a higher terrain setting.
- Both the terrain and local microclimate play a significant role in shaping winter urban surface temperatures, highlighting the complex interplay between urbanisation and climate. Urban planning to mitigate or adapt to these changes require systematic scientific explorations.
Impact:
- These changes are expected to further modify the spatial pattern, intensity, and duration of rainfall events with implication to urban floods. These changes are also expected to modify the dispersion characteristics of air pollution within the city.
- Thus the implementation of a digital twin for the city will help in the experimentation of different mitigation strategies like cool roofs, highly reflective pavements, and blue-green infrastructure (water bodies and green spaces).
- Substantial changes associated with urbanisation even for such a small tier-II city highlights the potential for local scale mitigation efforts to control the observed warming and their subsequent effects.
Way Forward:
- The ever-increasing population load and enhanced dependence on city resources will continue in the future, amplifying the hovering clouds of vulnerability/danger over the cities in the absence of city specific science driven strategies.
- Thus, building climate-resilient smart cities is important to ensure the health, safety, and comfort of the ever-increasing urban population.
- Unlike the saturated big metro/mega cities, smaller cities have a larger scope for planned growth and expansion and, hence, the potential to shift their growth trajectory towards sustainability.
- Therefore, as the harbingers of future climate change, comprehensive city-scale climate action plans supported by science to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of urbanisation and climate change are the need of the hour.
