The year 2020 has witnessed a phase no one in the existing generation would have thought of. One of the main reasons for which it would be recounted is the worldwide pandemic which has not only taken a toll of life but also altered are living and working conditions across the globe. But in India, it will be majorly remembered for causing the biggest migration since the era of independence, for bringing about the plight of innumerable people who depended on daily wages for their survival, for a government that brought about sweeping changes in the agricultural and labour sector but was not considerate enough to keep a track of the lives that have already been lost in ignorance.
With the imposition of the national lockdown, began the most terrible times that migrant labourers and farmers in India were going to face. These people depended solely on daily wages and agricultural gains to survive. With the industries being closed, markets being shut, loss of transportation facilities, and the loss of customers due to the fear of pandemic, they lost their tool of sustenance. Not once were they cautioned by the government to save resources or prepare for the harsh conditions that laid ahead in the forthcoming future. The measures, economists say, forced millions of households into poverty and contributed to a long-running tragedy: farmer suicides. Same catastrophe befell the labourers who began returning to their homeland in the hope of survival. Once again the government failed them as no arrangements were made in earnest. It was only after the devastated lot began to cover miles on foot, carrying their luggage and children along with them, causing a public outcry, that the government realised its fault and started the Shramik Special trains. This huge migration added in to spreading the pandemic and once again the inter-state political drama was played.
On being asked repeatedly on the issue of migrant workers’ jobs and lives, the minister of Labour and Employment, Santosh Kumar Gangwar finally gave written replies that the government did not have any data of migrant workers who lost their jobs and their lives during the COVID-19 lockdown. A similar response was given in the Upper House of the Parliament in relation with the farmer suicides. However, the Indian Railways has already confirmed that at least 80 deaths were recorded on Shramik Special trains. Now, the question which comes up in everyone’s mind is that why is the government shying away from sharing the data ?
India has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. In 2019, a total of 10,281 farmers and farm labourers died by suicide across the country, according to statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau. Taking such data under consideration, further aggravated by the havoc of the pandemic, it wasn’t wise enough for the policy makers to declare in the parliament that they had no record of the loss of jobs, deaths and suicides committed in the current year. It demonstrates a very insensitive and harsh front of the government and is being effectively used by the opposition to tamper its image. The opposition parties are alleging that the Centre is intentionally trying to hide the information on migrant workers as it can put its own image under the public scanner. Apart from this, the claims made by the leading news site, The Wire, state that the documents procured by them under the RTI prove that the government has recorded data on the deaths, but is not ready to reveal it.
However, of we go into the depths of the matter, it will be clear that the central government has no proper mechanism to determine the number of migrants and hence the loss of jobs. India enacted Inter State Migrant Workmen (ISMW) Act 1979 in late seventies according to which migrations are not mentored and are set free and happen because of the human quest for finding employment elsewhere. The State does not have a mechanism to monitor or regulate migration as such. In a written reply given in the Rajya Sabha, the government claimed that it has no data on farmers suicide as many states do not submit figures to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) and had reported ‘Nil’ data on suicides. Added to this was the chaos created by the pandemic situation. Hence, from the techno-legal perspective, it is not surprising that government did not come up with data.
But then, how was the government functioning to come up with new laws for the same lot of people in the same time?
According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on accidental deaths and suicides, 10,281 farmers committed suicide in 2019, down from 10,357 in 2018, whereas the figure for daily wagers went up to 32,559 from 30,132.
Whatever be the reason, the question on the deaths exposing the ignorance to the misfortunes of the unprivileged lot can’t be showed off so easily. The Government could have shown a bit more empathy and come up with data by collating those from the public domain. We are discussing human lives here, not mere loss of property or inputs in production function. Human lives deserve a better consideration, particularly in times of crisis.
Written by- Aishani Mishra