CORONA VIRUS LOCK DOWN: APATHY OF MIGRANTS

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced us to phrases that have become familiar: corona, quarantine, thermal screening, tracing, testing, isolation, vaccination, and, most prominently, "stranded migrant workers" or the un-privileged migrants.

Un-privileged!

Who are they? Do we know them?
We come across them daily; these are the migrant workers stationed in different corners of the county, involved in petty jobs, struggling to make both ends meet irrespective of the demographics of their natives. They tirelessly contribute towards the development of the nation by the sheer sweat of their brow, their labour so that India moves towards the goal of becoming a trillion-dollar economy.

Migration is not new to Indians. People move across the country for various reasons, including work. India's urban population, which contributes to about 63% of India's GDP, comprises of migrants who for a desire for better livelihood leave their rural settlements and come to cities and often end up in miscellaneous employment accompanied by low wages, poor living conditions and lack of social protection.

Yes, these migrants are unprivileged, as they comprise of the non-native lot in big cities where they can just fulfil their basic needs and do not enjoy the standard of living and privileges as the majority of citizens in the country do. The migrants don't have the advantages which others enjoy, usually live in poverty.

They remain unaccounted for by national statistics and are invisible to city-level administrations, rendering them ineligible for social schemes and welfare programs. They are denied access to urban residence and governance; their survival in the cities is dependent on daily negotiations with informal actors, ranging from petty contractors to security guards, and even landlords.

                               

In the concurrent scenario of more than fifty days of lockdown, it is evident that all that is required for a human being to survive on earth is food, water, and shelter.
If a person has basic necessities, mentioned above then s/he is leading a healthy life to survive on the earth. Yeah, because such basic needs are part of survival. There are many people; some are rich; some belong to the middle class, and some are those who are known to be unprivileged, their survival depends on such type of basic need. The difference between them is of living standards. Some are living a healthy lifestyle with high privileges, whereas some live a normal life.

Are you aware, what type of difficulty they face to earn their livelihood?

                                       

Yes, whether it is demonetization or a severe pandemic like COVID 19, the unprivileged always suffer from it.

Do you know why?
Why can't they live happily? Why they face problems in earning their livelihood?
Such types of questions creep in our minds daily.
COVID 19 epidemic has threatened the whole world.
As the whole world is in the lockdown, poor people face problems, especially migrant labours.
According to a survey of vulnerable sections in our country INDIA, people who are mostly from the unorganized sector earn less than Rs.10,000 a month.
About 67 % of workers of our country belonging to the unorganized sector lost their livelihood due to the lockdown. 74 % of these households are consuming less food than they were before the lockdown. The coronavirus (COVID-19) is a crisis like no other the world has faced in recent decades in terms of its potential economic and social impacts. It is devastating for us and our living conditions, and according to the opinion of the World Bank, the COVID 19 epidemic will hit the poor the hardest.

With over 90 % of the population working in the informal economy, the Indian Labour Organisation has predicted that as a result of the crisis and subsequent lockdown, about 400 million workers will fall deeper into poverty while forcing many of them to return to their places of origin in the rural areas.

Especially the migrant labours who are trudging miles to be back home, having lost their daily wages, and now depend on either the government support or private charity for food and shelter. We see them everywhere. Yet, we never imagined migrant workers as a group big enough to be taken seriously. They don't have any other option to survive; the biggest reason for that is they had lost their daily wage. They are not able to earn money in the lockdown and can't go back to their native.

Now they have come under the limelight. Governments, policymakers, economists, and others now know they cannot take migration lightly or migrants for a ride. Whereas, we should also have to make a stand for them and treat them equally.

We have underestimated the role migrants played in the Indian economy. We have failed to recognize their contribution. We knew they existed but never acknowledged their work.
I estimate that close to 500 million Indians are today internal migrants, either living in a place they were not born in or did not live in six months ago. Of these, the ones mainly affected by this lockdown are the worker migrants. These would be at least 30% of the total migrant population. Now, we are talking about 150 million-plus people of the country who move from their native to another for work. They move to a place, earn there, send back money home, and move on to a new location. We have no studies, policies on this segment. We talk only about smart cities, now we realize that these so-called cities need migrants to be made functional.
That's the difficult situation we need to think about it!
But we are not, because many people can stand for them and help them to get food and clothes. Many private NGOs are working on such type of work.

We should all provide food for the unprivileged people. So many families die every day of starvation while we waste our food. Everyone needs food; otherwise, how are we meant to survive? If we don't have food to keep us moving and staying healthy, it is not possible to work and make a living for ourselves and our families. Everyone should have the right to live a healthy life, especially when there are tons of food wasted every year. Thousands of people are dying because of hunger. So, it's necessary to donate the food for them during this quarantine. 

Many of you must be thinking that why should we give food to them?

In my opinion, people should have enough food supplies to poor people because all human beings are entitled to lead healthy and fulfilled lives, which includes having adequate food quantities and quality. From an ethical point of view, people should provide food to the poor since it is the morally upright things to do.
We can also help them in several ways by giving them support. If we give them moral support, show love, respect, and make them aware that someone cares about them. They will feel good, and in fact, they are part of our society and believe me, you will get a smile on your face, and that smile is something special. 

You will love it, and there is a particular quote that "helping someone makes you feel good."

And the most important thing, We do not have a cure or vaccine for the coronavirus, yet but we do have a remedy for anxiety and fear
PRAYER!

The message I would like to convey all of you that please take a stand!
Not only the government, but we are also responsible for it. They are all our fellow brothers and sisters

We will fight it out together!
If we show passionate devotion for the unprivileged, needy people, things can work out.

Please:
#donate food         # donate essentials                    
# donate medicines      # stand for them  
# we are all one.

                                    Jai Hind!

NB: statics and data mentioned in this blog have been referred from various journals/articles/newspaper of world wide web for authenticity.

I had also made one video delivering the emotions of the migrant workers. Please check it out!