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by Mili Gupta 21 July 2021
The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide has disrupted the entire political, social, cultural, religious, and financial systems of the globe. The primary concern and continuing focus of the government are on public health and are expected to remain the same for the weeks and months to come. However, there is a high degree of interest in many other impacts of COVID-19, including the numerous economic and labor market impacts, which have been immediate and very significant, and likely to continue shortly or potentially beyond.
India with 17.5 million international migrants has emerged as the top source of international migrants, constituting 6.4% of the world’s total migrant population. In India, the magnitude of inter-state migration was close to 9 million annually between 2011 and 2016, while the total number of domestic migrants in India (accounting for inter-and intra-state movement) stood at 139 million. In India, migration is largely motivated by a desire to survive, and hunger is a key motivator. The migrant workers were part of the organized as well as the unorganized market.
As the Union government enforced a nationwide lockdown and imposition of Sec 144 Criminal Procedure Code in various parts of the county by their respective State Legislature. The unexpected shutdown was bound to result in two factors: frantic purchases of supplies and the repatriation of migrant workers to their homes. Both of these things happened. It was puzzling why the authorities failed to consider these two issues while imposing such a harsh shutdown. The sequence of incidents also suggests that either high government authorities were completely unaware of the coming lockdown else that they were attempting to reassure the mass public with false assurances in order to avoid chaos. The Indian government’s approach to the COVID-19 epidemic was unquestionably immediate, but the magnitude of its execution reveals an alarming lack of preparation and management. It has harmed members of the lower social strata, notably migratory laborers who engage internally or within the nation.
Due to the extreme political and social limitations imposed on migrants, they were forced to undertake the enormous effort of returning home on foot, disregarding their unmet biological requirements. This voyage, which was made with no money, no sustenance, and on foot, resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe that had never been seen before. The migratory labor sector, which is primarily reliant on daily wages, has nothing to ultimately depend on. The administration was completely reliant on the policemen and security forces to ensure the success of the countrywide lockdown. They did their best, although at occasions they were harsh with unfortunate migrants while enforcing the shutdown. Even during shutdown, migrants were said to have been harassed by authorities.
During the shutdown, the federal and provincial governments released recommendation to all employers, advising them to pay their workers their complete remuneration. This advice did not take into account the reality that small and medium-sized enterprises have limited cash reserves and thus unable to adhere with government directives, without assistance from the government. Furthermore, while imposing lockdown, the administration did not come up with a rent settlement strategy, nor did it publish any temporary rent exemption system, leaving residents at the mercy of their owners. Because the majority of migrant labourers stay on rent, they have been disproportionately impacted, and many have claimed intimidation by their landowners.
Several died while standing and walking, while others perished in accidents, while others died of starvation, and yet others attempted suicide. Migrant workers’ cries, screams, and anguish could be heard across the nation’s highways. Nobody really came to their assistance, besides a few volunteer groups and a few charitable individuals acting on their own. The nation climate, on the other hand, didn’t seem to help them. Migrant workers were seen as foreigners in their own country. The administration was nowhere to be found on the roadways, and the migrants were left without sustenance. The administration could have done the minimal by mandating the installation of booths as well as highway kitchens to ease the starvation and misery of the migrants returning home, but sadly, neither of these things was performed.
The epidemic also made it easier for the government and companies to break labor laws and abuse workers. Ordinances were issued in U.P. & M.P. suspending most labor regulations affecting workers paid on a routine basis. A number of 38 labor rules were suspended by the U.P. govt via an ordinance. The U.P. government revoked contentious ordinance after a HC judgment in these situations, whereas others continue in effect. These reforms were designed to boost post-lockdown financial development by assuring more flexible labor rules and encouraging more capital. In respect to the COVID-19 epidemic, these modifications neglect the protection of workers. Even though the COVID-19 virus has a modest fatality rate, when deployed to India’s huge migrant labor population of 2.6 million individuals, thousands of individuals are at danger. Owing to a scarcity of human resources as a result of the economic crisis, some Indian states changed their labor laws and increased employees’ working hours without providing for extra compensation. The everyday working hours were increased from 8 to 12, to assist the sector rebound from the epidemic and promote capital enterprise. It was in violation of the International Labor Organization (ILO) regulation, which India has signed. The ILO voiced its displeasure with the India provinces’ modifications to labor legislation and recommended that the modified regulations be subjected to tripartite negotiations amongst labor organizations, employers, and the administration before being implemented. In a society that purports to be social democratic and labor-friendly, putting its workers through 12 hours of hard labor should never be the standard. In Alakh Alok Srivastava v. Union of India, the Supreme Court ordered the Centre to ensure the provision of basic services and medical facilities for migrant workers. The order was based on the status report submitted on behalf of the Central Government by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who apprised the Court of Action taken so far. Also after the order of the Supreme Court, however, few contractors did not pay salaries to their employees who were eventually left destitute with no choice but to go on foot to their hometown. However, a substantial number of companies, including both public and commercial enterprises, ignored the Indian Prime Minister’s appeal not to reduce workers’ pay or expel them from employment amid the shutdown.
In the Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh, the poor migrant workers are being sprayed on chemicals. Hundreds of them, including women and children, had escaped hunger in Delhi and had reached their houses in Bareilly but had to take this chemical bath to disinfect them. Sources suggest that sodium hypochlorite (blue) and water were the chemicals used in this mist, but the regional authorities clarified that it was a chlorine and water solution. The cleaning of buses, floors, and metal surfaces such as doorknobs and frames by municipal companies is reported to be the result of this disinfectant. In Wayanad, Kerala, a similar scene was seen. After facing allegations that they had also used bleach to spray on people at a public crossing, the authorities asserted that it was only a soap solution. The cruel treatment of poor migrant workers is brought on by incidents such as the one in Bareilly. This could happen for two reasons: one, a portion of our administrative boards have been cushioned as unclean, filthy, and probably tainted bodies by the middle or upper class with their elite mindset, which treats poor migrants performing low-paying work. Secondly, they deal only with them as inanimate physical entities, not as people. Such incidence shows that during the COVID-19, not the legislative labor laws are violated but the human rights of the migrant workers are highly violated.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India, recently released three additional Recommendations to the Union, Provinces, and U.T. Government as component of its 2.0 sequence of Covid-19 epidemic, taking into account the negative impacts of the epidemic on various strata of community. In India, migration is often seen negatively, and newcomers encounter challenges in gaining access to medical services, rationing, and certain other utilities. They were basically a defenseless society that states and businesses exploited for economic gain when necessary, but abandoned them as soon as tragedy hit. It is clear that there are gaps in India’s epidemic and crisis replication plans that must be addressed immediately. The plan, which aims to improve the social integration of all members of the internal migrant population particularly children and females, need to be more compassionate. It is also advised that before proposing any law that may have an influence on the lives of the general public, the people be given assurance. It is also necessary to raise awareness of the need of prioritizing domestic migration in legislation.