Skip to main content

Why no 'pompous sounding' Vande Bharat programmes for stranded migrant workers?

By Vijaya Ramachandran, Sandeep Pandey*
Lockdown in the wake of coronavirus threat has seriously affected the livelihood options for the migrant workers and daily wage earners. While the government has announced that they will be given free ration, even if they are not linked with local Fair Price Shop (FPS) part of the Public Distribution System (PDS), which is the case with most migrant workers across India including the brick kiln workers in Kanpur and other places, the ground reality is very different.
Families with ration cards are discovering that a number of units from their ration cards have been struck off reducing their quota of ration, those without ration cards are finding it very difficult to get ration cards made and those who are fortunate enough to get ration cards made are being told by the FPS owners that they will start getting their ration only after three months, the period during which 5 kg free ration is going to be distributed per person.
Even after two months of the unprecedented lockdown there are no arrangements for the benefit of stranded migrant workers in the country. With no means to go back to their respective villages due the loss of jobs in the informal sectors and no means of earning a livelihood, the migrant workers along with their families, including very young children, have been forced to walk on the highways travelling from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi to their homes in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The Prime Minister had little idea of the impending problems going to be faced by migrant workers when he asked people to stay inside, which started being parroted by anybody who was somebody, and clap from their balconies for frontline workers including of medical profession who were dealing with the emergency situation created due to coronavirus. He asked owners of private entreprises to continue paying salaries during the period of lockdown.
That most business persons, who would have participated in the clapping and switching off their lights gesture on a call given by the PM, didn't pay salaries to their employees is quite obvious from the mass exodus from cities and industrial centres.
When it became unbearable to stay in small closeted spaces with more people than could be accommodated while maintaining physical distancing norms and no income for past month and a half, people became desperate and poured out on roads. The fear of dying of hunger and claustrophobia was gnawing more than the threat of coronavirus.
The government, which should have arranged transportation in the first place, was caught unawares. They vacillated between policy of preventing human gathering and quarantining people coming from outside to ignoring the safeguards while seeming to overlook the migrants workers on move. They were apprehensive of a workers' revolt and hence continued to play hide and seek.
Even the people engaged in relief operations were finding it difficult to reach help to the needy travellers avoiding the police
We are already witness to scenes of violent clashes between workers and police trying to contain them. The police was getting confusing signals from the top. Result was total mismanagement. The tragedy of migrant workers in transit is an India unique phenomenon and hence points to utter ineptitude of the government.
Truth is also emerging that the government was under pressure from the capitalist class not to let the workers return home for the fear of labour shortage which would hit their operations, some in Gujarat going as far as to suggest that punitive action should be taken against returning migrant workers.
Not willing to grant them any rights or enter into any long term written contracts with them to offer any kind of social security, the owners of private companies treat them like bonded labourers. While unwilling to be held accountable by the government or society towards their workers they want to hold the workers hostage.
Hence the government did not show the kind of alacrity it did in case of transporting coaching students from Kota or pilgrims from Gujarat and south India visiting Haridwar and Varanasi, to bring the migrant workers home. This compounded the tragedy. First when the police would not allow them to travel on road, they took the rail tracks route. 
However, after the accident near Aurangabad in Maharashtra on May 8 in which 16 workers got killed by a train as they were aslpeep on railway track, the authorites became lenient with workers travelling via road. Workers took whatever vehicle they could manage -- bicycle, motorcycle, ride on truck tops, autorickshaws from Mumbai and Delhi going into hinterlands. 
When after the Auraiya road accident in which 25 people were killed on May 16 the police again became strict, not allowing any travel on road. The migrants had no other option but to take the route through agricultural fields and internal roads. 
Even the people engaged in relief operations were finding it difficult to reach help to the needy travellers avoiding the police. The common people had to struggle on three fronts simultaneously - the threat of coronavirus, the scare of hunger and the highhanded ways of government. 
The government should have anticipated the sheer numbers of workers and accordingly arranged trains and other transport facilities for them to reach their destination as they are entitled and have a right to lead a dignified life like the rich and middle class of this country. If the government could not do it before imposing lockdown because of lack of foresight, they could even do it now to alleviate the pain and suffering of lakhs.
Immediate proper transportation facilities, preferrable by trains with feeder bus services, mobile medical facilities for the migrant workers, hygienic, comfortable accommodation with food and water while they are in transit and before they reach their homes should be arranged by the government.
The government should make it clear whether pompous sounding Vande Bharat programme is meant only for the stranded Indians abroad or does it have any plan for the migrant workers of this country who are the second wheel of economy besides the agricultural workers?
---
*Vijaya Ramachandran is social activist based in Kanpur, Sandeep Pandey is Magsaysay award winning social activist based in Lucknow

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava*  Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.
1 comment
»

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad   In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.
Post a Comment
»

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.
1 comment
»

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria*  As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes. 
Post a Comment
»

Beyond the conflict: Experts outline roadmap for humane street dog solutions

By A Representative   In a direct response to the rising polarization surrounding India’s street dog population, a high-level coalition of parliamentarians, legal experts, and civil society leaders gathered in the capital to propose a unified national framework for humane animal management. The emergency deliberations were sparked by a recent Suo Moto judgment that has significantly deepened the divide between animal welfare advocates and those calling for the removal of community dogs, a tension that has recently escalated into reported violence against both animals and their caretakers in states like Telangana.
Post a Comment
»

Why 20 years later, Rang De Basanti feels less like cinema, more like warning

By Mohd Ziyaullah Khan*  This Republic Day , the Rang De Basanti , starring Aamir Khan , completed 20 years since its release. I first watched it in a single-screen theatre in my city—at a time when multiplexes were only just beginning to appear and our town was still waiting for one. It remains my favourite film, and I often revisit it on OTT platforms or television around Independence Day or Republic Day, when the air is thick with rehearsed patriotism. A few days ago, I noticed it streaming again on Jio Hotstar . Released in 2006, it is a film I have watched many times over the years. Yet, like all powerful cinema, returning to it at different stages of life offers a different experience. Twenty years ago, I found it deeply inspiring. In 2026, watching it again felt suffocating. At its core, the film follows a group of Delhi University friends who challenge the might of the central government after one of their own, a flight lieutenant, is killed in a MiG aircraft crash alleged...
Post a Comment
»

Stray dogs, an epsilon (ϵ) problem: Of child labour, and the art of misplaced priorities

By Bhaskaran Raman  The Greek alphabet ϵ (epsilon) is used in maths and science to denote a quantity which is not zero, but extremely small *** Since the Supreme Court's interim order on the issue of stray dogs came out on 07 Nov 2025, there have been a range of opinion pieces speaking for the voiceless. Most of them take the stance that there is a "problem" with stray dogs, but that we need a humane solution. I agree with this broadly, but I think we need new terminology to talk about this. 
Post a Comment
»

A. R. Rahman's ‘Yethu’ goes viral, celebrating Tamil music on the world stage

By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  Good news for Tamil music lovers—the Mozart of Madras is back in the Tamil music industry with his song “Yethu” from the film “Moonwalk.” The track has climbed international charts, once again placing A. R. Rahman on the global stage.
Post a Comment
»

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter. 
3 comments
»