Migrant Crisis: Covid 19



In the country, on March 22, on the day of Janata curfew, at 5 pm, on the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a show-fest in honor of the people who were fighting in the alleged war against covid-19, they expressed gratitude.

With factories and workplaces shut down due to the lockdown imposed in the country, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages and uncertainty about their future. ... Thousands of them then began walking back home, with no means of transport due to the lockdown.

THE CRISIS OF MIGRANT LABOUR IN INDIA DURING COVID-19

The Indian Government’s initial response to Covid-19—a stringent nationwide lockdown which commenced with an intimation period of only “four hours”—was hailed by the World Health Organisation as “timely and tough.” However, this international acclaim overlooked the disastrous result of the rushed lockdown on India’s migrant workforce. For them, the restrictions imposed by the lockdown has endangered their access to healthcare, housing, food and social security, which has further pushed their lives in precarity. Immediate action is needed from the Central Government to tend to their current needs and provide them with long-term economic stability.

                                The crisis

With the imposition of the lockdown, all non-essential economic activities were halted and a restriction on movement between two districts was imposed by the Central Government. Initially, the migrant workforce complied with the directives of restriction on movement. However, their meagre savings soon dried-up, prompting a mass exodus. Migrants began walking back to their places of origin, bearing heavy bags on their heads and children in their arms for hundreds of miles. This mass exodus has resulted in the death of migrant labourers due to road accidents, starvation, and lack of basic medical care.

Characteristics of Migrant Labourers

The Economic Survey of India (2017) credits mass migration from the rural hinterlands to urban hotspots for China’s high economic growth rates, mainly along the coast (Ministry of Finance, Government of India 2017). The survey suggests replicating the Chinese experience in India. In doing so, the survey shows that annually inter-state labour mobility averaged 5–6 million people between 2001 and 2011, yielding an inter-state migrant population of about 60 million and an inter-district migration as high as 80 million, totalling 140 million (14 crore) migrants in 2011 based on a new cohort-based migration metric (CMM) method (Ministry of Finance, Government of India 2017). The survey exaggerates increasing migrations as a sign of economic growth and fails to differentiate the nature of migration in India and China. Chinese strict  (household registration) system binds migrants to its farmer identity whereas migrants in India are free to acquire residency anywhere, except some hilly and tribal area.

Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic have faced multiple hardships. With factories and workplaces shut down due to the lockdown imposed in the country, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages and uncertainty about their future.

                    Wages as a public good

The migrant crisis during the lockdown provides impetus for the state protection of adequate, living wages as a public good. Wages and remittances from migration were necessary for migrant workers and their families to meet their consumption needs, regardless of public provisioning systems.

Real heroes who helped migrant workers to reach their home.

Sonu Sood is a real life hero for migrant workers.Because he helped the migrant workers to reach their home safely.

Actor Sonu Sood, who is often dubbed as the "messiah of migrants" for his philanthropic work during coronavirus induced lockdown, has been conferred with the prestigious SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

According to a conservative estimate, Sood helped more than 15,000 migrant workers, the majority of them belonging to Bihar, to reach homes in addition to arranging foods and shelters to more than 45,000 other people struck in the lockdown.

He had hired a fleet of private buses for sending the migrant workers to their homes free of cost and provided free foods and water throughout the way. Sonu's team had set up then a toll-free number for receiving the calls from those struck in the lockdown for help.

Conclusion

And many other people's helped the migrant workers during Covid 19 pandemic situation.

                                            ~written by,

                                              Yaswanth.