Skip to main content

Daily wagers being 'dragged' into miserable situation, their options are drying out

By SN Surajbhan*
While the whole world is applauding the dedication and commitment of the doctors during the current pandemic, there is little concern for people like Afroz Kotwar, who has lost his job since the commencement of the lockdown. The restrictions imposed by the government may be a clinical procedure for containing the virus from spreading, but it has also brought a halt in the life of the daily wage labourers, many of them migrants.
Sparing them from their daily wages has raised questions about the government’s intentions regarding the alternative it has for them. While their savings are drying up fast, they are indirectly being dragged into a miserable situation where their options are running out. Amidst the developing situation, one wonders: What’s next for them?
Afroz, 25, belongs to Gumla city of Jharkhand. Before the announcement of the lockdown, he was working as a labourer in the stone crushing plant of Mysore. The work provided him with Rs 10,000 per month for his five-member family along with free lodging and food. It wasn’t enough to satisfy all his needs but he was able to run his family.
But since the outbreak of Covid-19 after the Government of India declared lockdown, he was forced to return to Gumla. As the lockdown continued he was forced to stay indoors even though his savings had almost exhausted and he was in desperate need of a job.
Data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) suggest that about 122 million people lost their jobs in India during this crisis, out of which 75 percent consists of small traders and daily wage labourers. It is a huge number for the Indian economy, drastically affecting common people. 
About 122 million people lost their jobs in India during  the lockdown crisis, 75% of whom are small traders and daily wage labourers
Employment numbers have reduced from about 404 million in 2019-20 to 282 million in April 2020. 
The situation for Afroz has changed so much that he was not able to buy necessary medicines for his mother sick at home. His efforts to find a job in his city also has showed no hope. 
In a lingering threat to see his family tear apart, he is forced to once turn into a migrant worker because some lockdown restrictions have been lifted. But he won’t be able to earn the same as he used to earlier.

Government hand

The government on its part has tried to solve several of the problems which have aroused during the pandemic. But the problem which has persisted for months now is the issue of unemployed labourers, who met their needs through their daily wages.
No doubt, the government is offering jobs throughthe Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS). But official statistics show that about 90 percent of the workforce in India is involved in the informal sector, and the 40-day initial lockdown turned out to be a big jolt for both the workers and the economy.
“A large and comprehensive re-skilling programme for those workers whose jobs may be at risk, including informal workers, workers in malls, cinemas that may not open for some more time, is needed to prepare them to work in other sectors, such as e-commerce,”, admits a government official.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a Rs 50,000 crore employment scheme for the workers who have returned to their home due to the Covid-19-induced lockdown. To boost the overall morale of the returned workers, he also activated the Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan in mission mode for 125 days in 116 districts of six states i.e. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan.
Yet, this is failing to help large sections of workers. Lack of a bridge between the people and the government, a key to tackle the situation, has not helped workers like Afroz, who aren’t able to fulfill their needs. Indeed, while the crisis has engulfed the entire world, India is one of the worst affected on the ground.
A collaborative effort is the need of the hour. Casting aside migrant wage earners isn’t going to help. A strong, decisive power centre needs to take shape which can connect the government with the workers.
---
*Bhubaneswar-based writer

Comments

Naba said…
Nicely narrated
Unknown said…
Very good article. All have to think about the lower and middle class people, who suffered much during the pandemic. lets hope for best. Thanks to the writer.

TRENDING

Junk food push causing severe public health crisis of obesity, diabetes in India: Report

By Rajiv Shah  A new report , “The Junk Push: Rising Consumption of Ultra-processed foods in India- Policy, Politics and Reality”, public health experts, consumers groups, lawyers, youth and patient groups, has called upon the Government of India to check the soaring consumption of High Fat Sugar or Salt (HFSS) foods or ultra-processed foods (UPF), popularly called junk food.

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Astonishing? Violating its own policy, Barclays 'refinanced' Adani Group's $8 billion bonds

By Rajiv Shah  A new report released by two global NGOs, BankTrack and the Toxic Bonds Network, has claimed to have come up with “a disquieting truth”: that Barclays, a financial heavyweight with a “controversial” track record, is deeply entrenched in a “disturbing” alliance with “the Indian conglomerate and coal miner Adani Group.”

Modi govt intimidating US citizens critical of abuses in India: NY Christian group to Biden

Counterview Desk  the New York Council of Churches for its release of an open letter calling on the Biden administration to “speak out forcefully” against rising Hindu extremist violence targeting Christians and other minorities in India. In the letter addressed to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other major elected officials, the NY Council of Churches expressed "grave concern regarding escalating anti-Christian violence" throughout India, particularly in Manipur, where predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribals have faced hundreds of violent attacks on their villages, churches, and homes at the hands of predominantly Hindu Meitei mobs.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Link India's 'deteriorating' religious conditions with trade relations: US policymakers told

By Our Representative  Commissioners on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) raised concerns about the “sophisticated, systematic persecution” of religious minorities by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a hearing on India in Washington DC.

Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

MS Swaminathan Counterview Desk In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers. Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’. Pointing ou

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Jharkhand: Attempt to create red scare for 'brutal crackdown', increase loot of resources

Counterview Desk  The civil rights group Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization in a statement on plans to crackdown on “64 democratic progressive organisations” in Jharkhand under the pretext of the need to investigate their Maoist link, has alleged that this an attempt to suppress dissent against corporate loot and create an authoritarian state.