Since March 24, 2020 the whole country witnessed the plight of migrant workers on whose back the urban world thrives. The coronavirus induced lockdown not only left them vulnerable but also made them face the inhumane behavior from the authorities. A conference was organized on 15 October 2020 by Centre for Indian Diaspora Studies (CIDS), School Of International Relations And Politics Mahatma Gandhi University in collaboration with the Department of Social Sciences, Flame University, Pune, Maharashtra and Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT) to understand the issues and problems faced by the internal migrants during pandemic.
The session was titled as, “Migrants and Displaced Persons amid COVID-19: Issues, Challenges and Policy”. The session was chaired by Dr. Divya Balan, an Assistant Professor at Flame University with Doctorate in International Studies from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Dr. Balan opened the session on the note, “We are trying to settle in new normal, but there is a section of society who cannot afford to settle in new normal as for them even survival is an everyday struggle”.
Problems Lie in the Roots
Dr. V Mathew Kurian, Joint Director, at KN Raj Centre, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam presented his research paper titled, “COVID-19 pandemic and the ‘displacement effect’ of internal migrant workers of India”. Dr. Kurian focused on causes, effects, measures and government policies regarding migrant workers. He claimed that the inter-state migration is comparatively higher than intra-state comprising over 9 million workers, most of them working in the informal labour market. The push and pull factors operating in the economy accelerated the speed of labour migration.
According to him one of the primary factors for migration is agrarian distress across the country, which resulted in intra-state and inter-state migration. People from northern states of India entered into the labour market because of depeasantization. They preferred to move to southern states which are relatively better. Another factor according to him was social factor which played major role in forced migration. For instance, people migrated from northern regions to Kerala because the social situation there favours the oppressed caste groups. Further referring to push factors, he pointed out that southern states relatively provide better wages to labourers.
Dr. Kurian has highlighted the government policy. He said, “Government initiated neo- liberal economic policy which is in favour of corporate forces. This led to the concentration of economic power affecting labour oriented economy”.
The sudden lockdown created hostile environment especially for migrant labourers who lost their jobs with no food security. According to Dr. Kurian, the lockdown imposed by government was ignorant of poor people as an outcome over 300 people lost their life.
Regional backwardness
Dr. Rukmani Joshi, an Assistant Professor, Political Science, School of Open Learning emphasized on reverse migration in rural regions of Uttarakhand. Dr. Joshi through her paper “Unlocking the locks: Study of reverse migration in Uttarakhand during COVID-19” co-authored by Ravindra Nath Pathak brought to light that 70% of migration in Uttarakhand are from rural areas lying in high altitudes to plain urban area.
According to Dr. Joshi, 6 districts belonging to hilly regions of the state witnessed massive reversed migration. The reasons behind the migration are regional backwardness, small land holding sizes, underdevelopment and unemployment. Dr. Joshi highlighted that the government is at fault as it lacked in implementing the developmental policy.
“To contain the migration process the government has to effectively execute the social and development policy. The local governance has to play a proactive role. This can be achieved by introducing self-help groups and by ensuring quality infrastructure rather than quantity to prevent the abandonment of villages”, said Dr. Joshi.
Underemployment is a Reality
The sudden lockdown took a toll on the livelihood of the migrants. The migrant workers, mostly daily wage earners found it difficult to survive in cities like Pune during the pandemic, according to Mr. Shamsher Singh, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Flame University Pune. He presented a paper titled, “Inter-state migrant workers: Vulnerabilities and responses during the lockdown in Pune” primarily focusing on migrant workers stranded in Pune.
Mr. Shamsher Singh focused on the economic and social impact of COVID-19 on the migrant workers. Along with food insecurity, it brought to light the reality of underemployment due to existing low wage patterns among the migrant labourers. On an average most of them earns 10000/- monthly, the wage further declines for women workers as a result of gender pay gap disparity.
Further he added, “It impacted migrants socially as well as they had to face the social antagonism and administrative apathy. Few among them also faced backlash from the locals on the basis of religious identity. It was a shocking and overwhelming experience to watch vulnerable migrant labourers totally abandoned and left on its own mercy by the authorities.”
Need for Uniformity in implementation of laws
Ashik Bonofer, an Assistant Professor, Madras Christian College, Chennai highlighted the problems faced by the migrants in Tamil Nadu. Ashik Bonofer and Marilyn Gracy in their paper titled as “Perils of reverse migration: Impact of COVID-19 on the guest workers in Chennai” focused on the labour laws and the enforcement of the laws by the government. Mr. Bonofer pointed out that the labour laws enforced by the government regulate the formal and informal sector. However, the informal sector is the last priority of the government as it failed to address the problem of the informal sector workers.
Mr. Bonofer further stated that there is a need for uniform regulation across the country. The laws are in place but not implemented strictly. Under unlock 5.0 the industries are calling back the workers but yet there is no regulation put in place to address the issue of workers.
“Unless and until the regulations are not implemented in its full capacity the migrants will continue to face challenges and the future will remain blank”, said Mr. Bonofer.
Civil Society Helping Hands to Government
Moameren Pongen addressed migrants’ peril from Civil Society’s perspectives. Moameren Pongen, a Research Scholar of Political Science at Nagaland University, Lumami focused on “the role of civil society during COVID-19 in Nagaland”. Mr. Moameren Pongen said that due to active participation of powerful and influential civil society it could help the affected people in saving their livelihoods. It also acted as a helping hand to the state government. Another argument he made was that civil societies need to be neutral and should not get embroiled in party politics or allowed to be used as tools by any agencies.
The session was concluded by tracing the need for solving the distress of internal migrants at the source point. There is a deficiency in existing governance mechanisms. Hence there is a need for local governance mechanism, for instance in India- the panchayat systems, civil society, advocacy group intervention and the individual intervention so that the immediate relief could be provided to marginalized communities.
Snehal Mutha is a Pune based journalist doing her little and loves to read books, finds her peace in food. Her areas of interest are gender studies, international migration and social issues. She wants to be a pantomath who loves to explore and travel the world. She loves to express herself in the form of creative writing and digital art. Twitter: https://twitter.com/SnehalMutha?s=08