Migrant Workers - Apathy Exposed

•  India’s claim to fame is its bumper Agriculture Produce and its robust Human Resources, both skilled and unskilled.
• With a Population of 135 crore people, India’s Labour Force is estimated to be 52 crore people or 38% of the total population.
• Indians across the Globe are 5.24 Crore or 0.4% of the total population.

Migrant Labour:

• Inter State : 8 Crore
• Intra State : 13.9 Crore
• Intra District: 30.1 Crore

80% of them work in the Informal or unorganised sectors.

An estimate says there are 1.76 crore small shops, even if we take an average of 3 people working for every shop, its 5.28 crore.

Sector wise:

• Agriculture : 44%
• Industrial :    25%
• Service:        31%

Covid19 Migrant labour crisis

Covid 19 was first identified in November 2019, and GoI was kind enough to airlift People of Indian Origin from Wuhan.
GoI did not stop there it also showed its 56” chest to airlift Israelis, by sending Air India’s aircrafts.

On the 30th Jan 2020 the first positive Covid case was identified in India, GoI did not take it very seriously and continued with Delhi Election and Namaste Trump with huge public gatherings going unchecked.

On the 19th March 2020, 8 PM Modi appeared on the TV screens and announced Janata Curfew and Thaali Bajao program for 22nd March, kind enough to give almost 4 days notice for us to get ready with our utensils and bells.

23rd March was marked for CM Kamalnath’s Resignation and formation of BJP Govt in Madhya Pradesh.
24th March Sivraj Singh Chauhan was sworn in as the 17th Chief Minister of MP.

24th once again 8 PM Modi appeared on the TV screens and announced a complete lockdown for 21 days with a 4hrs notice.
He ordered every one to stay where ever they were by locking themselves in their houses, but he didn’t tell what should homeless do!

Migrants were caught unaware with no work ahead for weeks to come. Employers were quick enough to chase them away…



Largest Exodus after Independence began

Its human psychology that when ever one is in distress, first thing comes to mind is Home…!

All the means of public transport were ordered to stop with immediate effect, till further orders.

Millions of stranded migrants with no work and income decided to walk back from major cities to their respective villages.

On 27th March, Govt was caught unaware with this sudden sudden surprise, it sprang to action and ordered sealing of District and State Borders.

On 14th April people were hopeful of returning home as the Railways sold 94 lakh tickets, but PM Modi extended the Lockdown for another 19 days and was careful enough in not uttering a single word about the Migrants.

But Migrants did not stop their walk back to their Homes…
The sick, old, physically challenged, pregnant women, mothers of new born babies, little kids…they all are still walking braving hunger, sun, and even death.

Over 170 deaths have been reported so far
Due to Starvation/Dehydration : 26+
Due to Train accident: 16
Due to Road accidents: 55+

One woman gave birth on her way…heartbreaking to watch the visuals of tired and sleepy kids being dragged by the helpless parents.

Influential people and Student’s

Many influential people and children of well to do families were also caught in different places for different reasons. But the thousands of students in Kota Rajasthan became the Achilles heel for the Govt.
Students started trending “Send us Home”, while parents used every possible source to influence the Govt.

On 17th April Uttar Pradesh Govt sent 250 buses to ferry 7500 students from Kota.
On 21st April Madhya Pradesh Govt sent 150 buses to Kota from Gwalior.
While the West Bengal Govt was advised to avoid 3 halts’ travel adventure.

Bihar Govt was very angry on the other States’s for their initiatives to ferry the students…but the CM did nothing.

On 30th April Bihar Govt said they don’t have buses to ferry the students from Kota.

Unrest in Migrant Workers

There was pressure building up on the Govt from Migrant workers.
On 14th April thousands of Migrants came out to Bandra Station in Mumbai, which the BJP called a conspiracy by the ruling Maha Agadi Govt and the lapdog media found Masjid connection to it.

But on the same day in Surat thousands of Textile Industry Migrant labourers from Odisha were also protesting….was Vijay Rupani’s Govt conspiring? Unfortunately lapdog media could not spot skull caps or Masjid in Surat.

Similar protests were seen in other cities also. But in his 5 addresses to the Nation PM Modi did not have any plan to contain the Migrants where ever they are stranded.

On 29th April GoI decided to allow Migrants to go back to their respective villages but only by Bus…the queues were over a mile long.

On 1st May GoI silently issued a press note extending the lockdown further by another fortnight or 14 days.

GoI Proposed to ferry the Migrant workers to their respective states subject to both the State Govts are willing and request Central Govt for Shramik Special Train.

On 2nd May, Indian Railways in its circular issued the guidelines for the migrant labour to be ferried back to their respective villages. Sending State Govt must do screening and registration of the eligible people and also collect ticket fare from them to hand over consolidated money to Railways.

On 3rd May PM Modi tried to use his old trick of bringing in the Olive Green sentiment by flower shower by Indian Airforce…which actually didn’t work this time on the contrary people didn’t react even to the unfortunate martyrdom of our brave soldiers in the militant attack.

On 4th May Smt.Sonia Gandhi hurled a political Salvo by offering to pay the travel expenses of the Migrant Workers.

BJP was caught on the back foot…lame excuses, lies and even abuses for Mrs Sonia Gandhi started pouring out from all quarters of BJP. The mention of the word Ticket itself says there’s exchange of money…foolish arguments from foolish spokes persons of BJP.

On 4th May by evening BJP finally came out with the damage control measure of bearing 85% burden and 15% to be borne by the State Govts, because the Shramik Special Trains are arranged on request of the State Govts.

Constitution of India in its directive has very clearly mentioned in Entry 81 of Schedule 7, that Inter State Migration and Inter State Quarantine are Central Govt’s Responsibility.

Why are the States forced to shoulder 15% burden? States are not taking any kind of assistance from the Central Govt for Intra State Migrants.

On 3rd May PCC of Karnataka D K Shiva Kumar gave a cheque of ₹1 Crore to the Chief Minister    B S Yediyurappa…but on the 6th May Karnataka CM stopped the special train to Haryana.
If we have to go back to the directive of Indian Railways, special train is arranged only and only if both the State CMs request after mutually agreeing to send and receive Migrants.

Irony of the Migrant Saga

All these weeks when the Covid cases were low, migrants were not having any work or source of income, Govt did not allow them to return home.

When the Covid cases have crossed 90,000, a Staggered Exit of Lockdown is being implemented and there’s hope for the migrants to get work…senseless Govt is planning to ferry them to their respective villages.

Neither GoI nor the State Govts have promised any employment plan for the returning Migrants.

Our Nation Builders called the Migrant Workers, who have endured so much in these 55 - 60 days, with no one to help them, will not return to the Heartless Cities…at least not soon.

The foolishness of GoI has given birth to Humanitarian Crisis, which will translate into Labour Crisis soon.

Almost 40% population is walking back Home, 35% population has either lost the jobs or awaiting termination, is figuring out how to pay their EMIs, rents, bills etc,….10% rich are waiting to claim their share of the 20 lakh crore package.

Wah re Suit Boot Ki Sarkar!!

Lives or Livelihoods?

Global leaders are debating what is important…Saving Lives or Saving Livelihoods?

To save Lives Lockdown must continue: says the Dharma or Holistic well-being.
To save Livelihoods Lockdown must be lifted:says the Artha or Materialistic prosperity.

Not an easy choice to make, because both supplement and complement one another as we know there’s nothing called a free lunch in this world.


Chanakya in his Arthashastra says, a King or the Ruler does not have the luxury to choose between Dharma and Artha, which means both Men and Material are equally important for a happy society. The Ruler has a Moral responsibility to create wealth for the country and ensure happiness of his people.

In any unforeseen conditions be it divine or man made, if the people of a country face hardships due to lack of food or money, Society is bound to get destroyed.
Hence the Ruler must take every necessary measures to avoid wide spread deprivation due to inadequate access to food or money…and prevent the society from getting destroyed at any cost.

That is why every renowned Economist is requesting the present Govt, to ensure distribution of food grains to needy and demonetise the people through direct cash transfers…irrespective the Ration cards or other clauses, because 10 crore people do not have Ration Cards. In the case of Migrant workers, their Ration Cards may not be with them or might not be valid in the place where they are stranded.

Make use of Perceived, Unperceived and Inferred analogies to analyse the situation with an open mindedness and generous heart, rather than hiding behind datas and reports.
Prioritise things, focus on people’s health over Economic health of the Country and Open the FCI godowns and give food to every needy. Procure the new crop and refill them.

He also said that only and only increase in Production will give happiness or economic well-being to the people…here Production refers to Manufacturing and Agricultural activities. In modern India supply chains also become inevitable part of the Production activities.

Let me summarise it:

Make people’s lives easy by giving them adequate food and necessary financial support…Lives are Safe
Kick start all the activities that increase our Domestic Production…Livelihoods are Secure.

The simplest answer to the trickiest question of the day was always available…but we were looking West.
Let us reconnect ourselves to our forgotten Rich Heritage of Cultural Values which taught us how to be more healthy and happy life in less resources.

Let us return to our old food habits of unprocessed organic essentials. Simplify our lives by reducing unnecessary clutter in our To do lists. Slow down a little, cherish the beauty of nature, love and warmth of your family. Lets make a new beginning with a clean slate.

Is India Ready for the Hunger Crisis ahead?

With Global Economic slowdown lot of Indexes have changed dramatically. One such Index was of World Hunger Index. In October 2019 India ranked 102nd among 107 countries in a report prepared by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.

In the wake of Covis19 Pandemic, many National Social Scientists and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations are warning the world against the Hunger Crisis ahead, which can further worsen and result in a severe Famine.

Famine is basically a result of Draught..but its not always attributed to lack of rains or drop in crop yields.

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has classified Famine into two Categories:

1. Decline Availability of Food

Uneven distribution of the available food due to…supply chain failure, failure in storage or even illegal hoarding, result in decline in availability of food to some part of the population. This creates an artificial Famine, but with real hungry people.

Thanks to the Green Revolution, under the bold leadership of Smt Indira Gandhi, India is Self Sufficient in food and many sectors of Agriculture.

Food Corporation of India’s godowns are having 7.7 lakh tons of food grains as on date. By the grace of God and handwork of our Farmers this year also India has harvested bumper crops.


2. Failure of Exchange Entitlement

Not every one is a Farmer, majority of the population depends on buying food. National Sample Survey says that 60% of per capita income is spent on buying Food.
In a condition like lockdown or any other natural calamity, food becomes very expensive. The rich and upper middle classes some how spend extra money and buy what they need. But the poor and lower middle class people, who generally live on day to day basis fail to buy food due to lack of money.

India may not witness acute famine like in many third world countries, but we cannot rule out the possibility of millions of Indians living on one meal or no meal.

Then why are we talking of Hunger Crisis?

With Mountains of food grains we also have Mounting of Hunger.

United Nation’s World Food Program says that 22.2 Million Indians have not eaten sufficient food in the past three months…which happens to be the highest in the world.

In Modern India agriculture and other associated sectors have slowly disappeared from the Urban areas. Thanks to the supply chain system everything is available in almost every part of the country.

But with lockdown in the country, man and material movement has been restricted and the supply chains are more or less failing.
This has resulted in Decline in Availability inspite of bumper crops  everywhere. Greedy people will not hesitate in creating a Trade Induced Scarcity and mint money.

As I said those who can afford will survive the crisis and indulge in panic buying, because we do not have market regulatory system in place.

On the other hand the poor will be hit badly due to failure of exchange entitlement or purchasing power.
Lock down has laid off over 14 crore workers and they are not in a position to buy even essentials.

What should the Govt do?

1. Regulate the Supply and Demand by eliminating middlemen commissions. Even in places ,where the Covid Relief material is being distributed, middlemen are seen fleecing the needy.

2. Create income source or monetise the poor by direct cash transfers and increase their purchasing power. In other words safe guard them from failure of exchange entitlement.

3. Improvise the Public distribution system or the Civil Supplies…only substandard rice or wheat will not be enough.
Include all the possible essentials like pulses, oil, milk, tea, sugar, soya chunks, vegetables like onion, potatoes, tamarind, salt, spices etc.

4. Ensure 10Kg Rice, 1Kg Dal, 1Kg Sugar, 1/2 ltr of oil per adult, per month should be given to the needy with or without Ration Card. Milk for the children and other necessary essentials at subsidised prices.

5. Restrengthen the Supply chains to ensure timely availability of the essentials to everyone.

Hunger and Malnutrition or HUNGaMA report says that 42% children below the age of 5yrs are malnourished or under nourished. Malnutrition is a result of Hunger, this intern has many physical and mental health ailments attached to it.

Today’s hunger is definitely going to influence the standards of life tomorrow.

That is why it is very important for the Govt to ensure people are eating a decent meal and not wash their hands off with emotional pep talks and elaborate guidelines on what to eat in order to increase the natural immunity.

Instead of allowing the food grains to rot in the godowns, be generous in feeding the hunger.....

Thankfully India can very well feed its population and still have enough and more stock for future use.