With fewer migrants returning in COVID 2.0, U.P. says many stayed back after 1st wave

U.P. was the only State to do a skill mapping exercise of returning migrants last year, says an official

Just four lakh migrant workers returned to Uttar Pradesh during the second COVID-19 wave this year, compared to 40 lakh workers after the , indicating many of these workers may not have returned to their earlier workplaces after the first wave and got gainfully employed in U.P., top State officials said on Thursday. “Last year, 40 lakh migrants came back. We assessed their skills and offered them work based on those skills in every district. We asked them if they would like to set up a unit there, while others were linked to MGNREGA,” said Sidharth Nath Singh, U.P.’s minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Stressing that U.P. was the only State to do a skill mapping exercise of returning migrants last year, Additional Chief Secretary Navneet Sehgal pointed out that just four lakh migrants have returned after restrictions were imposed to curb the second wave in large States like Maharashtra and Gujarat.