Re: [IAC#RG] Migrant labour - suffering in present corona virus pandemic

To:

Shri R.N.Malhotra ji

Migrant labour is only one symptom of the mismanagement of India by ALL political parties.

1. This Government had full knowledge since 20th January 2020 about the likelihood (nay certainty) of it becoming a pandemic. Let Shri Ajay Bhalla, IAS, (Home Secretary) deny it if he can

2. This Government knew very well by 30th January 2020 (when first COVID death occurred in India) that China was grossly under-reporting cases (showing 4,000 cases when actual figure was over 80,000) and disease had spread afar to UAE and R0 then was at least 3.5 (Re has varied since then between 1.3 to 5).

3. This Government knew very well on Feb 25th 2020 that there had been over 600 infections in USA (the first cases were as far back as 3rd January 2020), but all this Govt could think of was entertaining Donald Trump and causing lakhs of people to assemble at his meetings. Its no coincidence that places like Ahmedabad, Agra and Delhi where Trump stayed are the hotspots for this disease.

4. On Feb 26th 2020 this Govt knew very well that COVID was raging like wildfire in Wuhan (China) so what did they do ? Send an Airforce plane to bring back 110 people who were allowed to rejoin the population after the shortest quarantine possible when nothing definite was known about the virus except that it was highly infectious and has a kill rate of 25% of those hospitalised.

In very blunt language,

a) Who the F**K was advising our Prime Minister, or was it only for optics ?

b) Why were our borders (especially airports) not sealed as far back as February 10th when the entire scientific knew for at least a week that this was going to be a pandemic. Who postponed it to March 20th?

c) Why was the first lockdown only implemented on March 25th when it should have happened by 15th February?

As Dr. Kapoor has written and graphically illustrated (repeatedly) to our members, it seems this Government is deliberately infecting vast sections of the nation as a matter of policy. It is a diabolical strategy to create an aura of FEAR and CONFUSION where even the fig-leaf democracy is given the go-by. In this they have the full cooperation of sections of Indian industry who are simply fed up with labour. China does not achieved its world dominance nowadays though labour, except the slave / captive labour kind. Its all highly automated nowadays over there and there was 50% mass unemployment in China even before COVID. Corporate India badly wants to be untied from labour and all the "laws / regulations / red tape" which goes with it. This is a great chance for them to extract money from banks so long as our politicians are deluded that India is going to be the world's next super-power

Also, its only in this nation, that there is historically a "create work for the people" kind of approach. Organizations like Railways have been treated by successive Ministers as employment bureaus and not a single Chairman of the Railway Board, to my knowledge, ever protested publicly against this while in office. Why are India's armed forces so over-manned ? Which idiot in the Army has come up with this new plan to take civilians on 3 year contracts, or is it a longer strategy to cut the pensions burden ?

As far as migrant labour is concerned, their poor over-cramped slumlike and unhygenic UNPLANNED living conditions in urban centres are very significantly responsible for the infection refusing to die down. It is a pragmatic decision to expel them from the cities, indirectly if not directly. It will also ensure that by migrants acting as carriers the disease will now spread well throughout India in places where medical facilities are poor or non-existent and where nobody is bothered about maintaining statistics. You can be very sure that by mid-June COVID testing by the States is going to dramatically decline as the effect of infected migrants returning home becomes evident. The infection numbers have already started spiking in Goa and Bihar as the migrants return home. Opening the Railways for Shramik Expresses is sure to spread the disease deep into the hinterlands to create pools from where it will strike back.

Sarbajit Roy

On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 12:56 AM ravindra malhotra <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

In this forum there has been endless discussion on irrelevant issues, personal allegations and rebukes, while the issues at present killing a chunk of population is forgotten. 

We have been reading in papers and listening in news heartrending stories of plight of migrant labour in India - walking hundreds of miles or trying to walk with their meagre belongings on their head, children and women including pregnant women in toe, hungry and exhausted. Some perished  on the way. This inspite of arrangement for their stay and food having been ordered by the centre and the state governments.  While millions availed of hospitality of state, thousands kept on trying to flee or actually fled on foot. Even today the highways are teeming with these miserable people walking,some pulling their children on carts, some spending all their savings in payment to truck drivers, but still unsuccessful in reaching their destination. 

What went wrong? I have the following take -

Our bureaucracy have no category of 'migrant labour' in their books. They have SC's, ST's, OBC'c, BPL's, ultra Bpl's in their books but no migrant labour as a category. It resulted in the fact that they were forgotten when the lock down was imposed, and  their  existence and problems were realised only when they started collecting at inter state borders in thousands all over India. 

Same is the status of politicians vis-a-vis migrant labour..  Migrant labour is no voter for any one, as he works in the state or constituency where he does not have voting rights. At the time of elections, he is not in the constituency for which he has voting rights, as a migrant labour he is working elsewhere and does not have the money and time to go to his home only for voting. No political personnel or political party is therefore interested in them and their welfare is left to some NGO's with limited resources. They have no advocates for them out of  public representatives in state or central govt. The attitude of bureaucracy is also probably in large extent due to this fact of political apathy. 

The Central Govt has , after their initial forgetfulness about this category of people, ha announced many measures including their sheltering and feeding. Implementation has evidently not been that sincere. It is the public representatives, who advise their people about what the Govt is doing for them and also take their grievances to the governments. This was lacking due to reasons given above, leaving the labour un satisfied and dis satisfied resulting in their clamour to go back to their states. Some states have now been giving them calls to stay back as large scale exodus from the state of their work has started now with ease of restrictions, while their presence is now required to restart the economic activity. 

Centre has announced a monetary assistance to migrant labour..But how are these people moving on the highways, collected outside railway stations, living/resting on pavements to know? Political parties and their support organisation that claim to be NGO's could have helped if their volunteers, who are deputed for convassing during elections, are deputed to guide correctly these pitiable people. But of course these people are not voters - so who cares!

   

If anyone has a view on the issues of migrant labour, it will be interesting to know.

R.N.Malhotra