Between June 2020 and August 2020, Neev – a multi-stakeholder consortium working to improve worker welfare in the Indian construction sector, conducted remote surveys with over 10,000 migrant construction workers to understand the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on their lives. Pratham was an integral part of this study and provided the logistical and on-ground support for the efficient facilitation of the survey.
The survey highlighted the priority needs of workers and their families: 61% of workers listed food needs as their main priority in the short-term. Educational needs and agriculture-related needs were the two other top priorities. Only 55% of those intended to return to the same employer. Learnings from this research can help identify gaps in current pandemic-specific policies as well as inform the implementation of construction-worker-focused programming for public and private sector stakeholders. More details from the survey can be found in this report.