news details |
|
|
| MIGRATION: THE BIGGEST REVERSE OF COVID-19 | | |
Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has since December 2019 affected over 6 million people in 193 countries has delivered a deadly blow to the global and national economy, crippled families and ruined the lives of millions of people and the worst to suffer are the migrants. To contain the spread of deadly virus, the government announced a series of lockdowns starting from March 25 and continuing till date. However, now the country has been divided into different zones viz Red, Orange, Green and Containment zone. Relaxations are given on the basis of the zone in which they fall. The COVID-19 conundrum came with a series of problems both for the peoples as well as the governments. The one which captured the attention of everyone was the reverse or return migration of the peoples back to their villages. The images of migrants desperately seeking to return home walking on foot, cycles and other modes following the imposition of the lockdown due to Covid-19 will not get erase from our memory sooner. More shocking was the reported deaths of about 200 migrants due to train and other accidents. Migration is not a new phenomenon in India, but the realization of the magnitude of dependence on the migrant workforce in the development process is certainly new for many.
In a recent note, Crisil estimates that India has a workforce of 46.5 crore individuals. Of this, around 41.5 crore individuals work in the informal sector of the economy, where no social security benefits are available. The data on migration by last residence in India as per Census 2001 shows that the total number of migrants has been 314 million. Out of these migrants by last residence, 268 million (85%) has been intra-state migrants, those who migrated from one are of the state to another.
Most of them are daily wage earners and many others are in unorganized sector and were not given any salary for the lockdown period. Since the lockdown, the past few weeks have been mentally, physically, financially and emotionally difficult for these migrant workers stuck in cities and in industrial belts. Many newspapers reports and Television clippings reveal that many such individuals have been on the verge of running out of their savings. It was largely left with the respective state governments to take care of these migrants. The state governments also did their best to provide them all kinds of help, but still there were reports of them being excluded and demeaned. Peoples started walking on their own and in some cases, it proved fatal for them. Reverse migration was thus the only way that time to save the lives of people placed in a terrible situation involving dislocation of home and family life, loss of livelihood due to closure of a large number of manufacturing and non-manufacturing units in which they were hitherto employed. India thus marked its first quarter with the largest repatriation exercise it has ever done. Indians were being brought back from some 31 countries, by air and sea.
The lockdown has been so difficult for this large section of this population, according to an economist and author Vivek Kaul. The economist further added that the informal economy also includes regular wage workers who work on a contractual basis for the organized sector. In this type of scenario, it is unlikely that that these individuals will come back to cities and industrial belts in a hurry. Other than impacting sectors like construction and transport, this will impact many services businesses as well. Take the case of e-commerce companies, which depend on delivery-boys for their last mile deliveries. They are likely to face problems as well if they want to operate at a full-scale level.
According to Santosh K Mehrotra Professor of Economics at the Center for Informal Sector and Labour Studies at Jawaharlal Lal Nehru University said that the current reverse migration has set the country back by 15 years. Migrants are the backbone of many sectors be it the agriculture, construction, services, manufacturing and many others. Many cities and states cannot do without the migrant workers. They should be taken of care and concern, the patience and fortitude and based on a humanitarianism approach. The care and concern, the urgency and seriousness shown by the destination state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat in arranging special trains and buses in coordination with the railways and road transport authorities for smooth, safe and orderly transportation of a large number of interstate migrants are equally commendable.
According to Dr. Shamim Modi an Assistant Professor working with the School of Law, Rights and Constitutional Governance at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, there are two kinds of people who migrate to the cities. The first are those actually in need of work for sustenance while the others are those who go to cities to increase their income. He said the latter are never going to return from their villages now, and that it would take a lot of time for the others to return. The people who have returned or are returning are the ones who actually run the cities. There has to be a holistic approach for the labourers and stress should be given on the rural economy else the economy is going to sink. This is the time to understand that self-sufficiency is the key and agriculture is its base, so it is very important to return to roots and start working from there.
Now with the peoples back to their villages, it is high time the government revamps its wage employment and social security programmes like MGNREGA and reallocate the Budget since the situation is very different now. The government has to generate employment opportunities Panchayat or block wise. The elected representatives of local Panchayati Raj institutions can be asked to work out the details at the Panchayat level. Sectors like agriculture and industries based on agriculture should be given priority. There is a trust deficit in the minds of migrants at the moment and it will cost the country. With the right kind of strategy, it is an opportune time for the government to revive the rural economy since the workforce has returned. The government has to come up with appropriate livelihood programmes.
It is a fact that these migrants are largely a voiceless community with no one to raise their voice for them. The government of India and the respective state governments have to demonstrate exemplary sensitivity to the plight and predicament of lakhs of interstate and intrastate, demeaned, excluded migrants. They have to take timely initiative and action to save them from the distress to ultimately work for their economic rehabilitation for leading a life of dignity, decency, equality and freedom, which is the essence of Article 21 of the Constitution. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
