In Bihar’s skill mapping of its migrants, construction activity tops list

A mapping of skills of the migrant workers who have returned from various states to Bihar shows out of 14 lakh migrants, whose profile has been prepared so far, 8.40 lakh are engaged in different spheres of construction ranging from carpenter to those engaged in construction of road, bridges, dams, painter, mason helpers, among others.

The people have been categorised into different groups: handicrafts, mechanics, healthcare, general services, electronics and electrical, construction, computer and IT, banking and financial services, agriculture and others.

While construction and related activities seems to be the major source of livelihood for these migrants, the second largest chunk of people belonged to services that includes cooks, drivers, daily wagers, domestic helps, and tailors.

“The skill mapping of 16 lakh migrants has been completed by the government. Out of this 8.40 lakh are construction workers,” said building construction department minister Ashok Chowdhary.

“So far 38,874 migrants have been found to be doing the work of a cook, 14,773 as domestic help/child caretaker, more than 30,000 as drivers and 62,270 as tailors,” said principal secretary disaster management department, Pratyaya Amrit.

Cooks from Bihar, particularly those from the Mithilanchal region, are in great demand in metros. “From a small village Bhakjari in Benipatti block in Madhubani district, more than 200 people alone work as a cook at different places,” said a government official, not wanting to be quoted.

In the construction sector, more than 3.9 lakhs are unskilled workers while more than 1.48 lakh worked as mason’s help. Close to 54,000 belong to a group of mechanics with expertise in different fields, more than 22,000 migrants are from the electronic and electrical field, 15,000 from the computer and IT sector and a sizable number are from banking and financial sectors.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar had announced that based on the skill profiling, the state government will reach out to industrial houses to invest in the state and create employment.

Till June, 12, 1510 Shramik Special trains arrived in Bihar bringing 21.24 lakh people travelled to the state. Most of the migrants who returned were kept at block level quarantine centres for 14 days.