The newly appointed President of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and banker Uday Kotak today said businesses would have to take it upon themselves to attract migrant labour back to the cities.

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“This is the first time India is seeing a reverse migration,” Kotak said referring to migrant labour moving from urban to rural areas amid the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. “Everyone has the right to make their own decisions and we must respect them,” he said, stating that we must respect the decision of migrant labour to move back to their homes in rural India.

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Broadband connectivity has given the country a unique opportunity, Kotak added, and it must be used to find more opportunities for rural India and its youth. “Why can't we dream of making India the office of the world, whether it is from a city or a village,” said the banker. “Why can't we dream of having Google and Microsoft jobs from rural India”, said Kotak.

“This crisis has presented an opportunity to re-start India, and we must do it better this time” was Uday Kotak’s pitch as he gave his first address as the CII President.

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With the spread of the pandemic, India is battling its biggest migrant labour crisis it has ever faced. The nationwide lockdown announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March triggered a mass exodus of migrant labour from big cities into rural India as many feared loss of jobs and livelihood.

Kotak said that short-term oriented policies by businesses would have to undergo a fundamental change if they wanted migrant labour to return to cities. He said this “short-termism” has resulted in a poor quality of life for migrants, large slums with pitiable conditions. Businesses will have to work hard to make it worthwhile for migrant labour to come back to the cities now, he said.

First Published:Jun 4, 2020 3:00 PM IST