: 50 Jobless Migrant Workers Now Have Hope For Tomorrow, Thanks to a Bihar IAS Officer #IndiaNEWS #Bihar The nationwide lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on livelihoods.

50 Jobless Migrant Workers Now Have Hope For Tomorrow, Thanks to a Bihar IAS Officer #IndiaNEWS #Bihar
The nationwide lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on livelihoods. Among the worst affected were workers from Bihar employed in distant industrial centres like Surat, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi. As factories shut down because of the lockdown, these migrant workers returned home.
Kundan Kumar, a 2012-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre who took charge as district magistrate of West Champaran only a month before the lockdown, had his work cut out. His administration would receive these workers, conduct health checks and put them in quarantine camps for 14 days, as per guidelines issued by the Bihar government.
According to the district administration, which has its headquarters in the city of Bettiah, approximately 80,000 workers returned home following the announcement of the nationwide lockdown. These workers were put into a series of quarantine camps propped up by the local administration.
“Before visiting these camps, the impression I had was that they were all simple labourers. But upon meeting them, I realised that many of these returnees were highly skilled workers with a good understanding of the latest technology in their chosen trade. These returnees knew all the verticals in the production chain and understood the market linkages associated with their respective trades. They were once the backbone of their respective industries in places like Surat, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ahmedabad and Delhi, but had decided to come back home during the lockdown,??? Kundan Kumar tells The Better India.
What transpired from these meetings with migrant workers was a grand vision, which addressed two key questions. Why not help the returning workers who specialise in trades like apparel wear, footwear, stainless steel or cricket bat making, find work in their home district? Since these workers were experienced hands in their respective trades, why not help them establish their own factories or plants here?
Nearly 10 months since he asked himself these questions, District Magistrate (DM) Kundan Kumar has established a “Startup Zone??? in the town of Chanpatia, where 49 newly-minted entrepreneurs ply their trade today. These factory owners, who were once workers, are now employing fellow residents from the district. From the despair of losing their livelihood, people from this remote corner of Bihar bordering Nepal, have rediscovered their dignity.
DM Kundan Kumar is helping migrant workers.
Setting Up Enterprise
Before the returnee workers could leave the quarantine camps for home, the district administration sent all its officers to conduct a skill-mapping exercise for everyone there.

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