Inaugurating his address (April 14) the P.M. Narendra Modi said, “India’s fight against the Corona pandemic is moving ahead with great strength and steadfastness. It is only because of your restraint, penance, and sacrifice that, India has been able to avert the harm of corona to a large extent. You have endured immense suffering to save your country.”
Pointing the miseries of millions of migrant workers/ daily wage labourers, he said, “I am well aware of the problems you have faced – some for food, some for movement from place to place, and others for staying away from homes and families. However, for the sake of your country, you are fulfilling your duties like a disciplined soldier.”
The words, spoken in style, fell on the ears like sweet and swift bells. That was all. Against the hopes of masses, there was no relief and rehabilitation package, no indication of providing the migrant workers, now jobless, with facilities to go back to their nature-friendly native nests. The incidents of Bandra in Mumbai, and in Hyderabad, just after his address, indicate the degree of frustration the hapless are experiencing. Big gatherings speak of distrust in the administration at a time of serious challenge to the nation. If not tackled tactfully, the situation may turn worse.
The prime minister has rightly equated the labourers with “soldiers”. This section generates around 2% of the GDP. But to keep them going, the nation needs to care for them. To leave them in the lurch is abdication from the ‘Raj Dharma’. They say, “The army marches on its stomach”. The idiom attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte is self-explanatory. The soldiers can keep going on until well-fed and well-kept, physically and emotionally. Patting the back with hollow words cannot douse the fire of hunger.
At a time when social distancing is the key to fight the virus, most of the migrant workers are forced to remain cramped in small dwellings. Empty pockets had forced many to vacate rented houses and live under unhygienic conditions in the open.
Just after lockdown, a large number of migrant workers faced the ordeal to walk on foot hundreds of miles to reach their homes. Many died en route. Bandra-like chaos was also reported from other cities across the states. On April 14 a large number of migrant workers in Hyderabad came out on roads and some started marching to their native places. In Surat (Gujarat) hundreds of restless migrant workers defied PM Modi’s lockdown extension call and came out on the roads, complaining about lack of food and demanding facilities to go back to their home towns.
Bombay HC
What are their demands? Provide enough food and passage to their native places. Media reports are full of empty stomach stories. Taking note of their plight, Bombay HC has advised to provide them with travel facilities within the state which would ease the burden on the administration.
Justice Ravi Deshpande said the labourers must be sent back home after proper medical examination. The observation came just a day after thousands of migrant labourers gathered at Bandra railway station, hoping the railways would arrange special trains to enable them back to their home states.
The bench was dealing with a bunch of petitions highlighting the issues of migrant labourers. The court noted that their other grievance is regarding non-response to their complaints by the authorities.
Inter-State Migration
As for inter-state migration, the Judge refrained to comment as “this issue is to be tackled by the Union government in consultation with the state government.” But reports suggest that the state governments are not averse to bring the stranded people back from other states but selectively. India Today reported (April 17), “The UP government has sent 300 buses to Rajasthan’s Kota to bring back students stranded due to nationwide lockdown. The district administration in Kota had allowed the students to leave for their native states.”
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot also reportedly said, “Other students can also go back home if their states make similar arrangements.” However, other states refused the suggestion.
As reported by Dainik Bhaskar (Apr 3), 1800 pilgrims from Gujarat stranded in Haridwar were taken home between lockdowns at the behest of Vijay Rupani, CM of Gujarat. The report mentioned, “While returning from Gujarat, a group of 13 natives of Uttarakhand boarded these buses but had to pay 18000 rupees for the group.”
In another case, over 900 Hindu pilgrims from south India were sent home back from Varanasi by USRT buses. Free Press Journal reported: “When asked how the buses were arranged in the lockdown, Kaushal Raj Sharma, District Magistrate of Varanasi said, “The people who were stuck here had approached their respective Members of Parliament. They approached the Centre and then we arranged the travel.”
The DM also said each passenger was medically examined before boarding the bus. The pilgrims belonged to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Each passenger was charged Rs. 4000. Those who could not afford are still staying in various ashrams.
Double Standard
This happened on Tuesday, a day after the lockdown was extended till May 3 and thousands of migrants thronged at Bandra railway station in Mumbai in the hope to board a special train to their home but had to face police action and forced to retreat heart-broken. FIRs have been filed against several persons for breaking lockdown rules. Some have also been arrested. News18 reports, “A survey of migrant workers found that four out of 10 labourers did not have ration left even for one day and 90 percent had lost their only source of income due to the lockdown.”
The questions are: if rules can be relaxed for ‘haves’, why not for ‘have-nots’? Why pilgrims can travel and others not? This is a mockery of the rule of law.
next scenario
This apathy against migrant labourers can worsen the havoc on the economy. The Government has started opening up economic activities in a staggered manner. Sooner or later, lockdown will ease. Most probably remaining migrant workers and daily wage labourers stuck due to lockdown will flee en masse to their native places. Many never to return! Frustrated with state apathy and dwindling capacity of small units to kick-start again from the point of ‘pre-lockdown’ can result in unemployment and create more economic problems.
The state should come up to help migrant workers by providing them with free facility to return home so that some of them may come back early. Our agriculture sector cannot afford to provide work for so many people. Their return to cities to shoulder economic activities and to support their families with whatever they can earn there must be a preferred agenda of economic wellbeing already shocked by demonetisation and now lockdown.
The states should take lessons from Kerala. The state Government dealt with migrants sensibly, opened 4603 relief camps to accommodate 1,44,145 migrant ‘guest’ workers and another 35 camps for 1,545 homeless and destitute people.