The Government of Nagaland seems to have taken into account the economic challenges associated with the COVID-19 lockdown by announcing the creation of two strategic committees on economic affairs in early June - one headed by the Chief Minister and the other core group led by the Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner.
The State Cabinet, meanwhile, also started the process acquiring details of quarantined returnees to in order to develop institutional mechanisms for skill upgradation and ensuring gainful employment.
Such foresightedness was rare, for a government known for recklessly taking the plunge and spending more on rectifying the repercussions later.
One of the outcomes of such policy measure was the registry of returnees released by the High Powered Committee, Nagaland for COVID-19 on June 23.
As per the registry, there were a total of 15799, many of whom in all probability, might have either lost their job permanently or on unpaid furlough.
Details of the returnees indicated that while 13,024 (or 82.43%) gave their job description, another 2775 left the section on jobs either ‘blank’ or ‘no job.’ But all were registered as working and most cited loss of jobs due to lockdown.
In this challenge, the state of Nagaland is no exception. According to a Migration and Development policy report by the Word Bank titled, “COVID-19 Crisis through a Migration Lens,” the lockdown in India has impacted the livelihoods of a large proportion of the country’s nearly 40 million internal migrants. “The loss of jobs and livelihood has also ruptured an important lifeline to rural households in many countries,” it observed.
The number of returnees to Nagaland can be considered ‘negligible’ in comparison with states with huge migrant population like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, or West Bengal.
However, it does not mean that the intensity of impact is lesser, and thus the raises crucial question: What’s next?
The sector-wise classification of the list informed that most of the returnees were working hospitality, hotel management and beauty care industry, a virtually saturated, non-existent or under lockdown in the state itself.
A large chunk of returnees were also working in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) or Call centre while other were in security services, airlines, Analyst and Tech, Data Entry Operator and so on. Most professions were listed either minimal or do not seem to match the current employment profiles in Nagaland. Some familiar job descriptions were receptionist and front desk, Missionary and Social Worker, teachers and construction sector.
While lost of livelihood is an immediate concern, in the long-run, it also implies crucial lost of remittance to the home state while increasing the job seekers in the state. In a demographically challenged place like Europe, return migration is perceived as a remedy for some crucial economic problems; however, in India, the case is otherwise.
The Government of Nagaland has made a good early start on the economic front. However, the most crucial way forward is to implement robust policy measures and adopting best practices elsewhere to suit the local context.
The returnees are currently facing a frighteningly uncertain future. Such situation demands counselling that is “comprehensive in scope, up to date, provided by qualified practitioners and extended to the family or close circle of the returnee.” A European Commission (EC) report termed counselling as the backbone of reintegration and the first step towards sustainable return and suggested it one of the verifiable best practices. An Italian case study has shown systematically monitoring returnees through SWOT analyses of the programmes has desirable outcome while “tailored in-kind assistance decided in consultation with the returnees” are also suggested.
While Nagaland has already adopted another best practice - up-to-date and reliable information gathering- or a dossier, it needs to be augmented with constant monitoring and provision of vocational or other training after arrival, focussing on the development of skills.
This is pertinent as the current job profiles of the most returnees may not be available in the state due to skill mismatches or absence of such economic activities. Taking advantage of the demography, ‘repurposing’ and reorientation’ skills could be adopted whereby, their potential are developed while honing the current skills further.
