Caste and Class Cruelty in the Time of Corona
We have heard horror stories of partition, stories of how trains carried dead bodies of people reaching their destinations on both sides of the border. We have read equally unnerving stories about how, during Hitler’s regime, Jews died of suffocation in railway bogies. Such shocking stories are now repeating in India during these times of the Coronavirus.
According to a report, in the two months, since the lockdown was imposed, the official number of migrant laborers who died due to suffocation is 251. Of these, 81 laborers died in Shramik trains organized by the Centre to help them reach their destination. The remaining 170 laborers died when they were trying to reach their hometowns using different modes of transport. Recently, two bodies of laborers were recovered from the toilet of a Shramik train with health officials estimating the death to have occurred two days before. Some also lost their lives on railway tracks, while others died in road accidents. Many more died of hunger on their way back home.
Any comparison of this humane tragedy of the migrant laborers with the tragedy after the partition is bound to raise questions about the fairness in such a comparison. Partition and the tragedy in its aftermath were due to the injustice meted out by the British. Also, a democratic government was not yet firmly in place in the country. Migrants of both countries sacrificed their lives in trying to determine the country to which they belonged. In the present lockdown situation, however, the laborers who lost their lives in such heart-wrenching conditions did not come to India from other countries but were the ‘others’ in their very own land.
The tragedy of these migrant laborers started two months ago when the government imprisoned them in different cities without food and water by announcing a sudden nation-wide lockdown. The laborers pleaded with the government for months to either provide them with food and housing facilities or allow them to return to their hometowns. During this period, they faced the wrath of the police and suffered their brute force in the form of lathis when they resorted to protests in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Surat.
Having lost confidence in the government and as a last resort, they started walking back to their hometowns. This padayatra was almost like a grim reminder of the pre-independence Gandhi-led dandiyatra. As they marched home, they were in constant fear of the government and the police as if they were aliens.
The lockdown has brought to light the lives of the laborers whose existence the government was blissfully unaware of while announcing the lockdown. Perhaps, this is the segment of the population that the Centre wanted to send to detention centers under the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) project. The lockdown, inadvertently, appears to be a precursor to how people, who cannot submit documentary evidence to prove their birth and citizenship in a country and who don’t belong anywhere else, can be treated as ‘others’ in their own country.
The intervention of the Supreme Court in the migrant labor crisis came a little too late. By the time it intervened and asked the governments not to collect travel fare from these laborers and directed them to provide food, many state governments had collected fares – sometimes exorbitant as in the case of Karnataka –and many of the laborers had already reached their homes. Should an elected government wait for court directions to protect its own people? The apathy of the governments has succeeded in alienating these laborers from the mainland.
It is not as if the Supreme Court’s directive is providing any relief or a solution to the problems faced by migrant laborers as their social problems have just begun. These laborers, who were confident that their native villages would welcome them, provide them with a sense of security, and not let them down, are beginning to realize that their villages are not what they were. It’s another matter that if these towns and villages could meet their various economic and social needs, such large-scale migration to the urban living hellholes would not have taken place in the first place.
Many of these people seek work in cities and urban areas not just for economic reasons but also to escape social evils such as caste and class. Laborers who move to cities in search of livelihood invariably belong to lower castes. And this segment of the population, which was till now facing humiliation due to their caste status in their villages, is now facing discrimination and stigma because of the Coronavirus. Shramik trains that are transporting laborers to their hometowns are now called ‘Corona Express’. Back in their villages, their very presence is being viewed with suspicion as they are seen as harbingers of Corona. This is nothing but another form of untouchability practiced in the garb of protecting oneself from the virus. So far, no details are available about the measures that the government has taken to provide these laborers with a sense of security in their hometowns.
Reports of cruelty meted out by villagers including government staff against the migrant laborers are many. Often, families are not letting them home. Incidents of these outcasts living on trees, in public toilets, and open spaces as villages don’t have proper quarantine facilities are coming to light. Many are being physically attacked.
While the rest of India considered rich with its values and culture is hiding inside home fearing the Corona Virus, these hapless migrants are spending their days in constant fear of various viruses of hatred. For them, Coronavirus is not as much as a threat as economic distress and social isolation. These laborers, who traveled from far off cities to reach their villages yearning for safety and security in their homes, should be allowed to live with dignity and without fear. The government should immediately try to find ways of preventing cruelty meted out in the form of caste and class. This is as important as discovering the vaccine against the Coronavirus.
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Kancha Gachibowli: Police impose entry restrictions on 400-acre parcel land near varsity
Hyderabad (PTI): The Cyberabad Police has imposed restrictions on the entry of people into a 400-acre land parcel in Kancha Gachibowli, adjacent to the University of Hyderabad (UoH), citing the prevailing law and order situation and the need to maintain public tranquility.
The Telangana government’s plan to auction this ecologically sensitive land for the construction of urban infrastructure and an IT Park has triggered protests by the UoH Students’ Union.
The matter is currently being heard in both the Telangana High Court and the Supreme Court.
In view of the Supreme Court's orders, the directions of the Central Empowered Committee, and the prevailing law and order situation, DCP (Madhapur Zone) Vineeth G issued an order prohibiting people who do not ordinarily have work in the area from entering it for any purpose other than their bona fide duties.
The order aims to prevent danger to human life and safety, maintain public tranquility, and avert the possibility of riots, affray, or obstruction to any person lawfully discharging their duties.
The order was issued under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which restricts unauthorised gatherings.
According to a notification, the order will remain in force from 6 am on Friday until April 16, covering the 400-acre area that is currently the subject of litigation in both the High Court and the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the UoHSU held a rally on campus late Friday evening, demanding the removal of police camps from the premises and the fulfillment of their other demands, including the revocation of FIRs against students, civil society groups, and other activists.
They also demanded that the UoH administration file a petition in the High Court asserting ownership of the land.
On Thursday, the Telangana High Court posted the case for hearing on April 7.
The Supreme Court, also on Thursday, asked the Telangana government to explain the "compelling urgency" behind clearing a large tree cover on the land parcel next to the university and stayed any further activity until further orders.
The court inquired about the status of the felled trees and directed the Central Empowered Committee to visit the site and submit a report before April 16, when the matter will be heard again.
Following the Apex Court’s directive, the Telangana government has decided to form a committee of ministers to hold discussions with the UoH executive committee, civil society groups, students, and other stakeholders to address concerns over the land parcel adjacent to the university.
Responding to the Supreme Court's order to stay any further activity until further notice, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu said in a joint statement on Thursday that the government would abide by the apex court's directives.
They said the government would submit the information sought by the Supreme Court within the stipulated timeframe.
The state government has full confidence in the Supreme Court, and justice will prevail, they added. The government has also directed police officials not to act harshly towards the students.
Earlier police said that when the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) began development work at the site on March 30, as per a government order, a group comprising UoH students and others gathered there and attempted to forcibly halt the work. They allegedly attacked officials and workers with sticks and stones.
Following the incident, 53 individuals were taken into preventive custody and later released on personal bonds.
Based on a complaint from the TGIIC, a case was registered at the Gachibowli Police Station for various offences, including unlawful assembly, rioting, and assault on public servants, under relevant sections of the BNS, police said.
Police also said that two individuals were arrested and clarified that they are no longer students of the university.
The Telangana government had earlier stated that the 400-acre land in Kancha Gachibowli belongs to the state.
