---
title: "Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 — Definition & Meaning"
description: "The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 protects workers recruited in one Indian state for employment in another, ensuring their rights and conditions."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/interstate-migrant-workmen-act-1979"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 is an Indian central statute regulating the employment and protecting the service conditions of workers recruited in one state for work in another.
- What protections does the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 specifically provide?
- How does the Act differ from the Contract Labour Act, 1970?
- Is the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act still in force?
- Why did the Act fail during the COVID-19 lockdown?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 is an Indian central statute regulating the employment and protecting the service conditions of workers recruited in one state for work in another.

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## Timeline

1. 11 June 1979

   The Act received presidential assent on and drew on Article 23 of the Constitution, which prohibits forced labour and trafficking, alongside the Directive P…

2. 24 March 2020

   The Act's deficiencies were thrown into sharp relief during the COVID-19 lockdown announced on , when millions of undocumented migrant workers, invisible to…

3. 28 September 2020

   This structural gap motivated the repeal and consolidation of the Act under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, which received…

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Example

During the COVID-19 lockdown of March 2020, the Supreme Court of India took suo motu cognisance of stranded migrant workers, exposing how few of India's internal migrants had been registered under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979.

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