We Deserve Better
On 8th May, 16 migrant workers returning to their hometowns came under train. Very recently, in another story involving shramik special trains, migrants are dying before reaching their destinations. A total of 9 such deaths have been reported including that of a child. These are the trains to make people reach their homes comfortably, without making them worry about food, heat and the long walking time. However, many such trains, each carrying more than thousand migrants each couldn't find their destinations, ultimately leading to the increased plight, politics and some prescription.
Unfortunately, there is much more to this whole problem as we all know. As a large part of Media still engages in pointless debates on irrelevant issues, the migrants issue is not becoming a big debate and they are restricted to be seen as sympathy objects. The government though, is not just confused about its handling of migrants crisis but the whole picture surrounding COVID-19. There have been thousands of circulars from state and central governments combined that earlier lead to huge chaos, some of which already exists. With the recent intervention of Supreme Court of India, things are expected to change a little, but what about those who have already lost lives? What about those who are struggling every second because the government messed it up?
The Plight-
As the unplanned lockdown commenced on the 24th March, a sense of unease started to grip the migrants. With guaranteed 21 days of no work and unsurety about upcoming days, the minds started to shape ideas of leaving towards home. But the chaos and confusion fuelled by rumours and no proper system in place lead many of them to walk. The journey with luggage, children, friends towards the motherland lead to social distancing run over, ruining the very purpose of lockdown. The underdeveloped villages and towns they were headed to had forced them to metros to fulfill their stomach and aspirations. Some stayed back in the hope of government support or with their savings but were soon proved wrong.
Most of the distress catered to lack of rations, no savings and the pressure of rent. So with each passing day, their problem increased forcing them to ultimately join others on the highways. Perhaps instead of going 21 years back, we slumped directly to 1947.
Now on May 1, trains started bringing some hope. But is it easy to believe someone who betrayed? It's definitely not and nobody knew when their turn would come. A lot of them, owing to constraints regarding familiarity with the internet or lack of information couldn't register. And then the walking continued, offering bribes to policemen at State borders, in the form of a humanitarian crisis with a considerable number of deaths in the form of accidents. You would not want to imagine how they spent their nights and managed food en route. Those who finally managed are at the Quarantine centre, not all of which are good. Finally, the social stigma also awaits them.
Interestingly, as the lockdown has been relaxed to a larger extent, few to them would soon want to go back. No state government in India is competent enough to create jobs in such a short period of time.
The girl, Jyoti Kumari who became famous after she cycled around 1200 KMs to her home in Darbhanga, Bihar, says, she slept for just one full night and on other days and nights took breaks when needed.
This problem gave us heroes to cherish and promote but people need to ensure the background doesn't just go away and justice is delivered. Democracy is hailed for upholding its citizens, but here 'lives and livelihoods' are both gone.
The Politics-
Poors have always been seen as Vote Bank in India, giving tough fight to religion based bloc vote politics or maybe complementing it. Governments would usually announce few schemes towards the end of their tenure and seek votes in return.
The biggest failure or the takeaway of this crisis connects us to Narendra Modi, whose charismatic leadership is hailed everywhere. He doesn't seem to be making any sincere efforts to give this crisis an end, or if he is, it's failing unlike his calls for Diya and Thaali appreciation for COVID warriors. Poors didn't fail him in any recent election, and BJP knows it too, leading to a new question altogether- Why is Modi letting this all happen?
A headline on 'ThePrint' reads 'More than angry they are hurt with Modi'- this would only happen when the expectations are too high and you are considered a part of the family.
Opposition has failed remarkably to act together, saving The Modi government some face. Rahul Gandhi is trying but he needs to improve his ability to deliver his message. Priyanka Gandhi's offer for buses was successfully scored over by Yogi, never mind very few of them were with issues. Before Sonia's offer to pay for migrants fare could make any noticeable difference, 85-15 rule was brought in hurriedly, not allowing Congress too much to reap. Now, the central government has clarified in apex court that it's not paying the train fares. This is the level of dirt we are wading through.
Today, the politics is about allowing trains. There are claims and counter-claims from both centre and states, that too on Twitter when migrants are looking for a two times meal desperately. Maybe to some relief, this lack of coordination doesn't just cover poor and same case is for flights also.
The worst part or probably the obvious one, is the use of this crisis subtly to destabilize the government. Though it may mount to sedition, I would not deter saying that the circumstances seem largely failing its citizens and before it does more damage, a corrective measure is must.
The prescription-
It was inevitable to reopen the economy even as the cases continue to rise and the absolute number of positives is scary. In a worrying finding, one out of every four migrants tested migrants coming to Bihar was found positive. The asymptomatic cases are also huge. So the approach to finding the solution needs to be sensitive, practical and effective on the ground. But what we saw is defence by Nirmala Sitharaman in her daily press conferences meant to announce different tranches of the 20 lakh crore mega package. She spent almost half of the total time daily, stressing on work by centre. She announced a slew of measures under the package but migrants could get not more than 2 months of additional ration. Direct cash transfers, supposedly, were not possible because of the lack of database of migrants with the government.
To provide jobs within the home state, Uttar Pradesh government has come up with the idea of Migrants Commission and has said it would take care of the migrants problems and provide them with social and insurance security. However, Yogi Adityanath's idea of making other states seeking his permission before hiring labourers from his state, looks like an unnecessary and excessive measure. Just a few days back, UP government also proposed heavy and radical changes in labor laws which takes away a lot of security from the labourers and leaves them nowhere.
Does this bring investment as claimed? Not many experts are sure and the investment outflow from China is not expected to be very high.
Supreme court of India was late to take cognizance of the matter and has only now made clear that states have to manage all the aspects of distress be it food, water or traveling back to the hometown.
Meanwhile, few people have taken the lead and are doing their best in making migrants overcome the distress in their little ways. Sonu Sood, Bollywood actor, is one of them. He has helped hundreds of stuck migrants to reach home. On Twitter, people discuss if one can do this much, what all can a government do?
Valid question, no?
Like many other crises, this will also be over but history will remain. It's uncalled for emergency in the lives of Indian poors and migrants. Indira had everything in her favour during the emergency- Media, judiciary, jailed opposition and not much opposition from the public for her programs.
But what eventually followed was the formation of the first non-congress government at the centre.
The voices of underprivileged need to be urgently heard or the India whose soul resides in villages would die.
Image credit- https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/policy/view-the-finance-ministers-covid-19-relief-package-is-helpful-but-there-are-gaping-holes-in-it/amp_articleshow/74853103.cms
