Experts have been calling for a similar programme for urban informal labour. Even if the government chooses against such a programme, the proposed registry can help mount effective relief to migrant and informal sector workers in urban areas in the future. It will also be a tool to map benefit disbursal and check for duplication/leakages.
Although the plans are to link this with Aadhaar, so that it is easier later to introduce direct benefit transfers, the first hurdle that the government will need to cross would be creating the skeleton for the repository, as it has little way of knowing migration patterns. A better approach would be to merge this exercise with the next census and deploy technology to update information on informal workers in real-time going forward. Besides, there is also a need to strengthen systems like ‘one nation, one ration card’, which the government introduced earlier this year.