Today’s Farmers are Tomorrow’s Migrant Labourers!
The images of hundreds of labourers all across the country walking from cities back to their villages in blistering heat without food and water and having lost their livelihoods in the aftermath of the nation-wide lockdown declared by the Modi government is still haunting the nation. The pathetic life of labourers in the unorganized sector in India was thus unraveled. The health scare created by Covid-19 soon turned into a humanitarian crisis. The lockdown also witnessed a tragedy of enormous proportions when 16 labourers relaxing on railway tracks on their way back to their villages died when a train ran over them. Now, when a series of anti-farmer laws are being implemented, we need to remember the trials and tribulations of these migrant labourers.
In India, farmers suffer losses and migrate to cities and towns to work as laborers. The final outcome of the recent agricultural laws that are being hurriedly implemented will be that of farmers handing over all their lands to corporates and becoming daily wage laborers or farmers selling their lands to the rich, losing their money, migrating to cities, and becoming ‘anonymous laborers’ without an identity of their own and becoming a part of the mass. True, these laborers don’t have a country or government to call their own or fall back on because the government has already declared that there is no need to keep a count of their lives or deaths.
Last week, responding to a question on migrant laborers in the Lok Sabha, Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar stated that the government does not have any data on the number of migrant laborers who either died or were wounded when they were returning to their villages during the lockdown. This stand of the government reiterates the fact that the government is not interested in taking any responsibility for the plight of migrant laborers.
According to a report by a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), as many as 971 laborers died en route their hometowns in the first two months of the imposition of lockdown. This report confirms that these deaths did not occur due to the Coronavirus. Of these deaths, 96 deaths occurred in Shramik trains, 209 people died in accidents, and 216 died due to economic distress.
The distress that these migrant laborers experienced post-lockdown was the most dreadful. The Labour Ministry issued a statement in Parliament that more than 1.04 crore migrant laborers returned to their respective home states. This despite the fact that data is not available for states including Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and others.
According to other estimates, the number of laborers who returned to their villages has crossed two to three crore. Most importantly, nobody seems to have any information about the fate of these laborers who returned to their villages from the cities. How did these villages accept these migrant laborers? There are no answers to questions about whether these villages have been liberal enough to accept these laborers who first faced neglect due to their caste and class and now after the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Migrant laborers are neither accepted by cities where they work nor do they belong to villages. Due to this, they are deprived of government benefits both in their villages and the cities.
The government does not seem to have data on the migrant laborers in the country either. In the last week of May, the Central Government stated that about four crore migrant laborers are engaged in different occupations in various parts of the country, of whom more than 75 lakh have reached their villages and towns through trains and buses. The Economic Survey-2017 estimated that the country has about six crore inter-state migrant laborers and eight crore inter-district migrant laborers.
Even as the migrant laborers working in other states or those who have returned to their homes are in a quandary, the Centre is trying to implement ‘labor reform laws’ that are actually snatching the rights of migrant laborers belonging to the unorganized sector. At the same time, anti-farmer laws are also being introduced. All these are bound to increase the number of daily-wage laborers and migrant laborers. In addition, it will uproot the existence of small and marginal farmers in rural areas.
If the state of these laborers, who form the backbone of all developmental and construction projects in urban areas, is not improved, Modi’s Atmanirbharatha will remain a mere slogan. If the legislation that is trying to morph farmers as laborers, suffocating them, and pushing them towards daily wage labor are not withdrawn, nothing can prevent their alienation in the country.
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Thiruvananthapuram: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday issued red alert for four districts in Kerala - Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Idukki, and Alappuzha - forecasting extremely heavy rainfall until May 21.
As heavy rains pose potential hazards, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) has advised people to remain vigilant.
With expectations of heavy rainfall within a short timeframe, there's a risk of flash floods and urban waterlogging, particularly in low-lying areas. Landslides may also be triggered by prolonged rainfall. In light of this, authorities are urging residents, especially those in hilly and coastal regions, to exercise caution and stay alert.
The IMD has also sounded orange alert for Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam district until Tuesday.
A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while an orange alert means very heavy rain (6 cm to 20 cm). A yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 and 11 cm.
Earlier in the day, the Idukki District Collector ordered a ban on night travel through the hilly areas of the district from Sunday until the red and orange alerts are withdrawn.
''Strict instructions have been issued to the District Superintendent of Police, Sub Divisional Magistrates, Regional Transport Officers, and Tehsildars to implement the ban effectively,'' an official statement said.
