Remittance Options of Rural Migrant Worker:A Case Study of Workers Engaged in Construction Works

Migration of workers from the place of their domicile to another destination is influenced by a set of factors which are specific to person, region, prevailing circumstances, geo-political conditions of the region and the country, etc., of both the place of domicile as well as the new destination. The sample includes 97 workers temporarily migrated from different states of the country to Lucknow and engaged in various activities like, construction, electric fittings, plumbing, maintenance of colony, etc. The study found that the 'hand carrying' is the most popular method of remittance (61.2% of total money remitted) amongst the migrant workers followed by sending money through friends/relatives and other known persons (18.0% of the total money remitted). Remittances through banks was found to the tune of 11.1% of total money remitted by the sample workers. The study concludes that the best possible solution to the problems relating to remittance of the migrant workers would be to facilitate every household to have one Saving Bank account with any bank having CBS or have an arrangement with a bank with CBS facility. However, till this option become a reality, as an alternative model and an intermediate step, all the telecom companies may be convinced to facilitate remittance through mobile banking where the mobile with the migrant workers may be charged with any amount and transferred to the mobile of the recipient which can be encashed at the authorised counters of the telecom companies.