Crime-tracker ID for Coimbatore mill workers?

The unique card would have details spanning, the workers’ biometrics, their criminal antecedents, if any, and past work experience.
Tamil Nadu Open End Spinning Mills Association is planning to issue biometrics- driven unique ID cards to workers.
Tamil Nadu Open End Spinning Mills Association is planning to issue biometrics- driven unique ID cards to workers.

COIMBATORE: For those already grappling with pervasiveness of the Aadhaar cards, the Tamil Nadu Open End Spinning Mills Association (OSMA) is set to open another can of worms. It’s planning to issue biometrics- driven unique ID cards to workers.

The association president M Jayabal told Express that the decision to this effect was taken during a meeting at Kodaikanal on Friday.

It is believed that the local police would be helping the industrialists with the profiling part. The unique card would have details spanning, but not limited to, the workers’ biometrics (fingerprints), their criminal antecedents, if any, past work experience and the reasons for leaving the earlier job among others. If the drive comes to fruition, it will be the first-of-its-kind in the country.

The association is likely to approach the City’s Cyber Cell on Wednesday to work out the nitty-gritty. While the jury is still out on the legality of the initiative, how the association is going to pull off the scheme involving 485 mills across the State, employing 2,85,000 workers, including 1,85,250 migrant labourers, is yet to be ascertained.

Meanwhile, lacing OSMA’s drive with humanitarian consideration, Jayabal said that at a time when the State was reeling under labour shortage, the influx of migrant labourers came as a major relief. “The influx of migrant population to the industrial hubs of the State owes largely to better standards of living (free food and accommodation) and pay (`10,000 here against an approximate daily wage of `150 back home),” says Jayabal. “However, with more disposable income came the propensity to splurge it on liquor.”

‘Migrant workers not provided amenities’

ABREAST of the role the migrant workers play in the State’s development, Jayabal was unsparing in his assessment of industrialists using migrant workforce only as a means to making money without any reciprocation insofar as uplifting their lot was concerned.

“Most firms do not show interest in providing basic facilities such as proper shelter, hygienic food etc., to the workers. Lack of monitoring and education are the major reasons for these workers going astray,” he said.

The statements and the earlier meeting assume significance in the wake of a spurt in criminal activities having the alleged involvement of migrant labourers. While OSMA is bent on bringing institutional changes, Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) convenor D Prabhu told TNIE that his association was giving importance to humanitarian activities on a par with the money-making aspects.

Apart from training the fresh recruits, ITF reportedly arranges for counselling for its workers. “This has helped us manage the workers better and avert any untoward incident so far. We provide video training to new recruits to explain the work culture, dos’ and donts’. A 45-day technical and soft skill training too is imparted. We have an ecosystem that addresses their grievances,” he said.

IS IT WORKABLE?
How the association is going to pull off the scheme involving 485 mills across the State, employing 2,85,000 workers, including 1,85,250 migrant labourers, is yet to be ascertained.

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