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Migrant workers, who were stranded in Gujarat due to the lockdown fill bottles with drinking water from a container as they wait to board a train that will take them to their home state of Bihar. (Reuters)

For the first time since independence, India saw such a large-scale movement of people on foot, Umi Daniel, director, migration and education at Aide et Action International told News18 in an interview. Daniel is an expert on migration issues and has studied the ongoing crisis that nationwide lockdown has thrown open for the migrant labourers amid global coronavirus pandemic.

Centre's policy on the issue of return of migrant labourers to their home states has not been very clear. What do you think is the reason?

I think when the nationwide lockdown was announced, the government had no information about these invisible people, as to how many were there, in which state etc. This lack of information has been quite apparent since the day the lockdown came into force. The Centre clearly did not anticipate so many people wanted to return to their homes. There was no Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) set in place. So, when the crisis of migrant labourers walking back to their home states began, there was confusion about how the governments would help them. Whether they would get buses into play or trains and who would pay for the transportation charges.

What have you found from your own observations?

We found that five lakh people had walked down to their villages in the last few weeks. This number is quite high. After the partition never have so many people walked through the country. It is also clear that the economically poorer states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha are going to have a tough time with so many of their locals returning to the state. Jharkhand has done appreciable work in managing this crowd, given their limited resources. But this is clearly going to be a challenge in days to come.

How long do you think the migration will last?

It's hard to say but at least for the coming six months to one year the problem and anxiety of labour force is going to be there. I think we have failed our migrant workers who came with a lot of hope to the cities to earn a decent living. There is deficit of trust, there is fear of disease and speculation of whether they will still have a job when conditions become suitable for their return. A task force that works in coordination between the Centre and the states will have to answer these questions of the migrant labour force. States which send a bulk of migrant labourers, who are now returning to their homes, will have to be extended extra help.

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We Have Failed Our Migrant Workers Who Came to Cities With Hope, Crisis to Stay for a Year: Expert - News18

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Bareilly: Nearly 1,000 migrant workers reached Bareilly from Punjabs Ludhiana Wednesday, relieved to be finally back in their home state. But the 600-kilometre journey on the Central government-run Shramik Express, which took a little more than 11 hours, was marked by no provisions for food and water.

Speaking to ThePrint upon their arrival in the Uttar Pradesh city, several workers complained that the Punjab government asked them to arrange for their own meals and water.

However, they were given the railway tickets free of cost an issue that became political this week over the share of Centre and states.

We didnt eat anything since the time we boarded the train. Forget food, the Punjab government didnt even provide us with water for the journey we know how we have come such a long way, said 28-year-old Nooni Ram, who ran a small eatery in Ludhiana and was on his way to Aonla town in Bareilly district.

The government sent us a message yesterday asking us to carry food and water for the journey. There were no shops open, how can we arrange it all for our family? Ram said.

He was referring to a message from the Ludhiana district magistrate (DM), which asked the workers to carry food and water for the journey, adding the travel will be dependent on their medical screening. All the workers carried a medical certificate to get clearance for the journey.

Ram was travelling with his wife and a two-year-old child. We only had two popcorn packets to feed the child during the train journey, he said.

Anuj, a tailor who was also on his way to Aonla, said, We were really confused about the train timing. Even though the train was scheduled for 3 am, it only started after a few hours.

We had requested the authorities to delay the schedule to at least 6 am as we had to make arrangements we have families but they didnt comply. We couldnt sleep at night out of tension and anxiety, he added.

The train that started around 6 am, reached Bareilly at 5.30 pm.

Another distressed migrant worker, from Sirauli in Bareilly, said she had to repeatedly breastfeed her 6-month-old kid to keep him from crying. I didnt have water or food looks like our tensions never end, she added.

The workers were provided with meal packets and water bottles after they reached the Bareilly railway station.

Also read:Kejriwal, Mamata, migrant crisis whats keeping BJP chief Nadda busy during lockdown

These migrant workers had registered themselves with a Punjab government-run online portal for making the journey. They were notified about their travel via the Ludhiana DMs message Tuesday night.

Once they got down from the train, the workers were screened by eight teams of healthcare staff upon arrival. Sanitation workers also sprayed disinfectants around the platform area after the arrival.

On Wednesday, two migrant workers were sent to healthcare facilities after they showed symptoms. This came a day after three workers were sent for health checkup by the state authorities when they reached Bareilly from Gujarat in a special train, said Satya Veer Singh, the Bareilly station superintendent.

Yesterday, 1,218 workers had arrived here from Gujarat in the special train. They were screened by six teams of healthcare workers. We are following all social distancing norms during the transportation process, said Singh.

In Bareilly, railway officials arranged further transportation of these migrant workers in collaboration with the local police. As many as 43 buses were used to send the workers back to their native places.

Only 35 passengers were allowed on each of these buses, which can otherwise accommodate up to 54, said a bus conductor named Anil.

The workers said they will try to look for conveyance to their villages once the buses reach their destinations.

We have to again see what conveyance we find upon reaching Aonla as our native place is actually in Hardaspur village. If we dont get conveyance, then we will have to walk the distance (around 18 km), said Ram.

Veerpal Singh, a worker in a motorcycle factory in Ludhiana, said he was on his way to Aliganj, a town in Etah district for his daughters wedding. My daughters wedding is to be held on 10 May. If 5-7 people also come, we will get her married off, Singh said.

Also read:Covid spike, 70% hike, long queues but nothing can keep Delhi away from booze

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11 hrs in train without food and water: Migrant workers on reaching Bareilly from Ludhiana - ThePrint

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New Delhi: The BJP in West Bengal has started a survey asking people questions about Mamata Banerjee governments alleged mismanagement of the Covid-19 crisis in the state.

As part of the survey, launched last week, the BJP has posed four questions whether Mamata is hiding information related to the pandemic, are people from certain areas violating the lockdown because of Mamatas appeasement policy, who is responsible for people not getting ration and if people are suffering from the governments low testing capacities.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said they have received 12,000 responses so far.

Questions on migrant crisis and economic emergency will be added to the survey soon, he said.

We have asked people to answer these questions and register protest because we are repeatedly raising questions on the states low testing figures and fudging of Covid-19 numbers. We are not the only one raising questions, even doctors associations have raised questions on the state governments Covid figures. The inter-ministerial central team also questioned the chief ministers handling (of the crisis), Ghosh told ThePrint.

From March to April, the state said it had 200 cases, but in the last ten days, after the Centres intervention, now the dashboard is showing 1,344 cases, Ghosh said.

Mamata is still playing with the health of the poor. We want people to put pressure on Mamata. This is the tip of the iceberg. Every state government is fighting to save lives but Mamata is fighting to save her image and hide numbers, he added.

As of Wednesday, Bengal has 1,047 active Covid-19 cases and 1,456 confirmed cases, with 144 deaths (including those caused by comorbidities), according to the state government bulletin.

West Bengal has the highest mortality rate in the country at 13.2 per cent.

Also read: More testing, daily detailed updates Mamatas Covid strategy sees major turnaround

The issue of ration distribution is a major bone of contention between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP.

The BJP even held demonstrations last Friday in Ranaghat against an alleged attempt to steal a truckload of rice sent by the Centre and pass off the food grain as state relief.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, free rice of 5 kg and pulses of 1 kg every month is to be distributed among the poor, but the opposition and even Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar have alleged a scam in the public distribution system (PDS).

Under Pradhan Mantri Grib Kalyan Ann Yojna FREE RATION is available for THREE MONTHS -5 kg rice per person and 1 kg dal for each household per month. Worrisome distribution reports. Officials need to distance from politics and keep diversion/siphon sharks away, tweeted Dhankhar Wednesday.

The state government has show-caused 359 ration dealers and suspended 64 so far for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices while distributing food grains.

We are raising this issue of malpractices for the last 15 days. Government officials and Trinamool workers siphoned off free ration, which was meant for the poor. We have demanded investigation into this loot of ration, Ghosh told ThePrint.

BJP general secretary and in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya Tuesday wrote a letter to the chief minister, highlighting discrepancy in the governments Covid-19 bulletins.

The government is coming out with a much detailed bulletin since Monday, but the data it is providing to people still has a lot of discrepancies, he said.

Alipurduar district has been shown to have zero cases but health officials confirm 4 cases. Districts like Murshidabad, North Dinajpur have a high number of Tablighi returnees and migrant labourers but the health bulletin showing zero cases is really surprising, he wrote in the letter.

On Tuesday, the chief minister said that 5.57 crore household visits have been conducted over the last one month and given necessary health advice.

During the period from 7 April to 3 May, over 5.57 crore household visits have been conducted. 872 cases of persons with SARI (severe acute respiratory illness) and 91,515 cases of persons with ILI (influenza-like illness) have been identified and given necessary health advice, she said.

But Vijayvargiya contested the claims, saying: This is another lie by the inefficient chief minister. No one knows about this screening except Mamata Banerjee. She is jeopardising peoples lives. What purpose will she achieve by concealing Covid-19 positive numbers?

State BJP leader Rahul Sinha told ThePrint: Our MPs are in house arrest for months now. They have not been allowed to move out from their house, only TMC workers and their MPs and MLAs have permission to provide relief work in this pandemic. The whole world is fighting Covid but Mamata is fighting with the BJP workers. This is strange.

Also read: Why an angry Mamata Banerjee was forced to do a U-turn on Bengals Covid strategy

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Bengal BJP goes to town over Mamata fudging Covid numbers, PDS scandal, starts survey - ThePrint

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Indias treatment of its migrant population has been a disgrace. We must redeem ourselves by admitting our failures and devising policy approaches that are sensitive, humane and respectful of individual freedom and dignity.

Much of the blame on this issue that was directed at the Narendra Modi government immediately after the lockdown was unfair. The nationwide lockdown had to be imposed quickly and not every scenario could have been catered for. Sure, the governments antennae failed to pick up the risk that millions of migrants would make a beeline for their homes. But as far as one can tell, few outside experts, activists or mediapersons had flagged it as an important factor ahead of the lockdown. So the Union and state governments had to react to the unfolding human tragedy, which they did to the level their administrative capacities allowed.

That was then. After several weeks of lockdown, you would have thought that the Union and state governments had adequate time and warning to plan and implement measures to better manage the movement of migrants. Yet the manner in which the special Shramik Express trains have been implemented demonstrates that many of our governments neither have the political sensitivity nor the administrative structures to service our migrant population.

Also read: Viral images show MP labourers quarantined in toilet, but BJP says its not what it seems

The Modi government did well to arrange for trains to take stranded migrants back home once administrations across India had figured out how to deal with the outbreak. Those who argue that such trains could have been arranged earlier do not account for the fact that it takes time for local administrations to be capable of managing the influx of inter-state migrants.

What is unfathomable though is the fact that Indian Railways expected migrants to pay the fare including a Rs 50 premium to travel back home. At a time when private hospitals are expected to treat patients for free, when price caps have been imposed on laboratory testing and even hand sanitisers, when private employers are being asked to bear the cost of salaries, the government-owned Indian Railways is unwilling to waive the expenses of a few trains. I am sure we will get clarifications in the coming days, but a notification says that the local state government authority shall collect the ticket fare and hand over the total amount to the Railways.

After Congress president Sonia Gandhi announcedthat her party will foot the bill, the Modi government declared that the Union government subsidises 85 per cent of the railway passenger fare and it is the remaining that will be paid by the state governments. While a few state governments paid the entire ticketed fare, in many cases it was borne by passengers themselves or by charities and civil society groups on their behalf.

Railways might well have contributed Rs 151 crore to the PM-CARES fund, but it would have been more efficient and appropriate for them to waive the passenger fare entirely. India rightly takes pride in evacuating its citizens from war and disaster zones around the world, including during the current pandemic. We rightly do not ask our expatriate citizens to pay the full cost for the trip back home. The coronavirus pandemic is a disaster and the reason to help migrants get back to the safety of their homes is humanitarian. There is abundant cause for the Indian state to pay for it, not least when it owns airlines, railways and bus companies, and even if it didnt.

Also read: MGNREGA, skill-based work options states are weighing to help returning migrant workers

There could be three policy reasons to ask migrants to pay for the journey.

First, providing free long-distance transport will create incentives for the marginal migrant to go back home, leading to raising the demand for tickets on a limited supply of trains. Well, the answer to that is to run more trains.

Second, to discourage migrants from leaving so that the economic revival is faster. This is unconscionable for it treats migrants as instruments, not full citizens. Migrants are no less capable of exercising judgement over their personal affairs as bureaucrats, political leaders or columnists, and if this means economic challenges, then that is the price of the society we have become.

Third, their reverse exodus back might spread the virus to rural areas in states that have so far been less affected by the pandemic. This is reasonable but no longer tenable after six weeks of lockdown. It is incumbent on every state government to get its act together for surveillance, quarantine, isolation and contact tracing. The argument that local administration is not prepared cannot have a perpetual shelf life.

Why is it that Indian society does not respect and uphold the individual freedom of our migrant fellow citizens? One reason and I am guessing might be because we do not think individual freedom, including our own, is of utmost value. We are okay with families, communities and governments abridging our freedom, often for a good cause. A citizen who does not prize his/her own liberty is unlikely to champion that of others.

Also read: Real social distancing: Special planes for Indias rich, police lathis for working-class poor

So what would a policy that respected the liberty and dignity of the migrant worker look like?

Returning home at this time must be treated as a humanitarian cause. All mass public transport facilities buses and trains should be made available free of cost to any migrant who wishes to travel to a place of safety. If states where they work want them to stay back to sustain their economies, then they should be offered financial incentives. Workers can then compare the costs of going home against the benefits of staying back and decide for their own. In fact, giving them two-way tickets can work both as an incentive and a signal that they are wanted in their work places.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the fact that Indias politics has not kept pace with the consequences of our economic growth in yet another area. Migrants have ended up political orphans they are outside their home states and out of mind of those governments. They remain outsiders in the states where they work and local politicians do not consider them as us. Very few state governments seem to care enough about them to be bothered to treat them with dignity, even in this pandemic situation.

The big reform required is for state governments to set up departments to manage both the migrants they host, and the migrants they send. NRIs caught in a crisis can expect to be evacuated because there is a Ministry of External Affairs that is responsible for their welfare. We need a similar mechanism for the welfare of internal migrants, and make state politicians and bureaucrats accountable.

The author is the director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy. Views are personal.

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Like an MEA to help NRIs in crisis, India needs a system for its internal migrants too - ThePrint

It was a lockdown that unlocked millions of Indians. As India receded into homes in the last week of March, a section of Bharat hit the streets defying the order to stay indoors. For the next few days the India-Bharat contrast played out in the open India hiding at home scared of coronavirus and Bharat out on the streets gripped by a fear bigger than the virus. Over a month into the lockdown, the contrast keeps showing up at Bandra station in Mumbai, Yamuna bank in Delhi, on the streets of Surat

For Indians who witnessed the March exodus closely some images lingered for days an old woman walking with a stick taller than her and struggling to keep up with the family ahead, a teenager breaking the plaster on his leg so that he could walk faster, a girl with a limp crying because she could not keep up with her mother walking ahead with a younger sister.

Collectively, they were more anxious than fearful, felt more abandoned than angry, were lacking security not courage and were dispossessed by the cities they had been working in with a dream to build a better life. That a lockdown could shatter migrants dreams so completely proves how little most of India knew them. Questions people asked initially betrayed their ignorance: Why are they walking? Can they really walk 500 km? Do their bags have all they owned? all signs of discomfort among those with creature comforts.

Poverty line to dignity line: People desperate to leave cities were poor in assets, not in aspiration and self-esteem. They were earning a livelihood not living on handouts. They were poor, but not in the way most people think of the poor and thats because the popular understanding of poverty is badly outdated. Especially in a country where you can drive from one of the planets largest slums, Dharavi, to arguably the worlds most expensive residence in just 20 minutes.

For most people, the yardstick is the official poverty line. When last estimated in 2011-12 nearly 22% Indians were below that line. Since then the countrys GDP has almost doubled and the population has risen less than 10%, implying that the number of poor should be less much less than they were a decade ago. How less? We dont know for sure. But that did not blind us to the migrants plight. Our real and growing blindspot is about the millions who float just above the official poverty line and forever live in danger of falling below it again (see illustration).

An illness, a job loss, death of an earning member is all it takes for a family in this zone to plunge back into poverty. An economic setback of the kind triggered by the coronavirus can push thousands of families down to the line and beyond. The downward spiral could also pull in people who are vaguely defined as lower middle class, especially the self-employed. The rapid expansion of the gig economy (Ola and Uber drivers, courier delivery boys ) in recent years means there will be job losses that wont show up as job loss. Thats because these jobs exist somewhere between the official definition of employed and self-employed.

One way to track poverty in all its dimensions is to replace the poverty line with what McKinsey calls the Empowerment Line. Its a line at which everybody has access to 8 basic needs of life with some dignity drinking water, education, energy, food, healthcare, housing, sanitation and social security. In 2014, when McKinsey did the study, 56% of Indians were estimated to be living below the empowerment line. The migrant crisis would not have been half its size if most Indians were above this line.

Right help at the right time: No doubt social welfare schemes now reach far beyond the officially poor. The JAM trinity (Jan Dhan account, Aadhaar number and mobile phone) has helped target the needy far better. But the exodus tells us what needs to be done next delivering the help in real time.

If most migrants were reached on their mobile with instructions on where they can find a safe shelter with food and income support, or information that their employers and landlords will be paid to take care of them during the lockdown, they wouldnt want to stream out of the cities in such despair.

One way to do this is to build an Aadhaar Plus platform. An optional layer built on top of Aadhaar where people voluntarily put in their job status, income, assets, access to amenities, residence and contact number. This will help identify and grade beneficiaries and deliver help to them just when they need it and in the form they need it sometimes just a text message saying assistance is on its way.

The Aadhaar Plus database will also help build a vulnerability index that could, eventually, replace all other poverty measurements. Policy makers will be able to see precisely where families are along different shades of poverty and help them accordingly. As it turns out, the labour ministry has been working on creating something loosely along these lines called UWIN. Its progress should be made public.

The migration should serve as a vision correction for those who were unable to grasp Indias growing urban underbelly. People have wondered why migrants arent listening to governments. They are, but they arent convinced that governments can walk the talk. Isolated and jobless, they are relying on their faith (lack of it, actually) more than any reasoning. This is happening in a country where budget after budget has been dedicated to the face of the poorest and the weakest person finance ministers have seen. And that should make everybody rethink their faith and understand why migrants have stopped taking words seriously.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Why millions defied the lockdown: Stranded or marching, migrants have exposed our ignorance of what poverty in - Economic Times