The government has started the reverse migration of workers stranded in different states by running ‘Shramik Trains,’ workers trains. Earlier the UP government ran a thousand buses to bring back many workers in Gujarat and Haryana.
As I write this post, the Government has sent over three Naval ships, INS Jalashwa, INS Magar and INS SHARDUL to begin the evacuation of expatriate workers from UAE AND MALDIVES. Two lacs have registered to return to India from the Gulf, the majority to Kerala.
Any disruption in the repatriation by these overseas Indians amounting to US$ 64 Billion will affect the fundamentals of Kerala, which is dependent on the dollar inflows.
The domestic front poses a different problem. The workers who have gone back to their homes would not be in any readiness to come to the cities. Their experience has been horrendous, many forced to walk for days, and many treated like intruders. For the day labourers there exists no safety net, either provided by their employers or by the government.
It is time that these aberrations are duly covered. Any government needs to know the numbers, the identities of the people employed in different states and districts. Aadhar was a unique system that was defeated by the opposition and the judiciary combined. The lack of a system glares on the administration now.
The workers will be busy in the ongoing harvest season. Their money will dry out soon and they, in search of sustenance, will rush back to the factories in the urban centres to pursue their skills and vocations. No state from where the majority of the migrants’ hail possess the means to feed them for long or employ them. The survival of many of these units is a big question mark, likely succumbing to the economic downturn. Return and rehabilitation of the workers must be a better-managed activity with records updated of people and their movement.
It is sad that the most significant aspect of the pandemic, the dislodged workers away from their homes, have been largely ignored, exposing the migrant workers to the gravest dangers.
There cannot be two levels for handling people, a free flight back to India on the one hand for the NRIs and a chaotic, filled like sardines in the buses, or long march back to their homes on the other. Good governance is keeping a masterplan ready in such cases to ensure a dignified plan with least bureaucratic red tapes.
The liquor shops reopening hastily all over India even when the peak of Covid has been predicted by mid-May reveals the states’ prioritizing revenues over the safety of its citizens. The pandemonium in front of the thousands of shops gives little hope for a speedy solution to the pandemic.
The hugs and kisses could start as the clock strikes 12.01 on the midnight of 18th May.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
pic courtesy: Malayala Manorama
