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!!