Despite several laws that have been enacted to protect the interests of labourers and migrant workers, most of the provisions are hardly implemented. The Interstate Migrant Workmen Act, for instance, was designed to protect migrant workers. But only 309 people have been registered under the law.
Posts tagged as “migrant workers”
Breakdown in communication and trust between the government and citizens resulted in heavy hardship as citizens lost access to basic services. There are lessons to be learnt from Punjab, Kerala and Odisha. We need to build enabling infrastructure that helps communities to act freely to meet their own needs.
Thousands of people have failed to receive COVID-19 relief measures because the welfare system was broken to start with - from ration cards to worker documentation. But some governments put up quick and temporary solutions, which should now be strengthened.
A furtive finger is placed on the lips of dissent in India. The government does this through malicious FIRs for sedition and defamation. In the Supreme Court, the government called its critics "prophets of doom". But such censorship is also done by fellow citizens.
Has the lockdown truly prevented COVID-19 from gripping India – or has the ‘cure’ been worse than the disease? Stories from the ground suggest that the livelihoods of millions of Indians have been harmed, perhaps irreparably, with no coherent policy framework for their revival.
Former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Gopala Gowda, writes that the Supreme Court's infamous response to the migrant worker crisis during COVID-19 will be remembered as its darkest moment – even superseding its actions during the Emergency.
Some believe that the migrant crisis unleashed by India's lockdown was inevitable. But the government's own track record proves otherwise. It already has the infrastructure and capacity to respond, including several assets that are not currently being used.