The entire country was in a state of panic when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced complete lockdown of the country to break the chain and control the spread of coronavirus. The very first beginning of a crisis was marked by the shortage of hand sanitisers and medical masks flying off shelves from medical stores and supermarkets. While the zenith of the hardships faced by some ‘privileged’ citizens of the society have been slow wifi, absent maids and lack of fancy food, the daily wage migrants remain hungry and away from their families, isolated in big cities with no jobs. Poorly paid and often looked upon with hostility, at the best of times, their lives are precarious.
The shutting down of factories and other labour-intensive industries meant the loss of livelihood for hundreds of daily wage workers who migrate to big cities from their home towns in search of jobs. More than 90 percent of India’s workforce is employed in the unorganised sector where social security benefits and paid leave are an exception, not the norm. Wages are low and there is little in the bank for people to fall back on. The shutdowns that now cover more than 125 million Indians will hit the poorest hard, and state protections are weak. Migrants form a large portion of this vulnerable workforce.
Ranveer Singh, a migrant from Madhya Pradesh who worked as a delivery boy in Delhi died after walking 200 kilometers to Agra from Delhi, of a heart attack, triggered possibly due to exhaustion after walking for over 200 kilometers. The issue has thrown the spotlight on labourers walking great distances to their hometowns, while the government’s lack of planning grows more obvious. Since the government had stopped public transport, along with all delivery services, Ranveer was out of options, money and a job.
One of India’s 36 state and territorial governments, Uttar Pradesh, had made arrangements to bring migrants home, commissioning about 1,000 buses. The previous day, the migrants waited in lines miles long on the outskirts of Delhi to board a few buses, and the overwhelming majority were turned away. Charitable organisations, volunteers, religious institutions and government bodies including the Railway Protection Force have fed tens of thousands of people across the nation but many more remained outside the safety net.
Two days ago, a friend posted on social media of how he got to know about a watchman in his neighbourhood who had been surviving on biscuits since days, stranded away from his family with no means to buy or cook food.
While people sitting at their homes are criticizing these people to choose their urge to reach home over the need to socially distance themselves, they are certainly unaware of the situation of the low-income sections of the society. The bigger concern for these people is how to feed their children and families, and they fear death due to starvation more than death due to any other disease. Can we really blame them?
States have been told to ensure timely payment of wages to labourers at their place of work during the period of lockdown without any cut. House rent should not be demanded from the labourers for this period. Action should be taken against those who are asking labourers or students to vacate the premises. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Maharashtra’s Uddhav Thackeray, among other state leaders, asked migrant workers in their respective states to stay put and promised them food and other facilities.
The pandemic is widening social and economic divisions that also make the virus deadlier; a self-reinforcing cycle that experts warn could have consequences for years to come.
As the coronavirus spreads across the globe, it appears to be setting off a devastating feedback loop with another of the gravest forces of our time: economic inequality.
By Rajshree Sikaria
Literary Sources: NY Times, Al Jazeera.