Comparative Analysis of Living and Working Conditions for Migrant Construction Workers in Three Cities of Maharashtra, India

Anjali Ojha, Banaras Hindu University (BHU)

The challenges faced by migrant construction workers in three particular tier of cities of the most migrant-oriented state, Maharashtra (Pune, Nagpur, and Jalgaon) has been explored. The primary objective is to explore the standard of living and working, and access of social services within these urban settings. The study addresses major issues such as housing, remuneration, employment, education and health care opportunities by employing questionnaires and participant observation techniques. The results highlight a lot of issues that workers face including poverty, job instability, poor and unsafe working conditions, poor living conditions among other social issues. Furthermore, revealing differences in these conditions between classes of cities impacted by different urban development patterns. The study concludes with a series of recommendations supporting measures intended to promote the well-being of workers by emphasising on strengthening labour laws to promote fair wages according to working hours and job security, expanding the availability and quality of affordable housing, and improving access to comprehensive social and on-the-job safety. The article thus seeks to make fair and supportive workplaces for workers by addressing these challenges. The study intended to ease the current challenges while contributing to an improvement in their quality of life in the long run.

Keywords: Internal Migration and Urbanization, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination, Economic Demography, Population and Development

See extended abstract.