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Interviews | Jean Drèze, noted economist and social activist, interviewed by GS Vasu (The New Indian Express)
Jean Drèze, noted economist and social activist, interviewed by GS Vasu (The New Indian Express)

Jean Drèze, noted economist and social activist, interviewed by GS Vasu (The New Indian Express)

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published Published on Apr 28, 2020   modified Modified on Apr 30, 2020

-The New Indian Express

Holding migrants where they are is a bad idea, even from the point of view of containing the coronavirus crisis, says economist Jean Dreze in a wide-ranging interview with our Editor GS Vasu.

HYDERABAD: With under a week to go for the present lockdown to end, it is an indisputable fact that thousands of migrant workers are stuck in cities across India, unable to get home. Continuing to hold them "captive" will only adversely impact us, cautions noted economist, author and social activist Jean Drèze, in an interview with The New Indian Express Editor GS Vasu.

Quarantined in a village in Jharkhand, the former LSE and DSE academic, who is an expert on hunger-linked issues, said decisions are largely being taken by a "privileged class of people who are far more afraid of contracting the infection themselves than they are concerned about the consequences of the lockdown for poor people." Excerpts:

* There has been a lot of debate over migrant workers, as a majority have gone back to their respective towns and villages. But even those who have remained in the cities would like to go back the moment they are in a position to do so. There is this concern that a good number of them are unlikely to come back. In such a scenario, what do you think is going to happen?

I think the situation and impact is going to be even worse in poorer states like Jharkhand and Bihar where people are now returning because what is going to happen now is that people are going to be afraid of resuming migration for sometime, certainly as long as there are any lockdowns anywhere.

As you pointed out, there is going to be a labour shortage in some states, like Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and so on, but more importantly, it is going to create a huge surplus of labour in places like Jharkhand and Bihar and this is going to create a crisis of livelihood because the wages are going to be under stress and the earnings are going to come down and people will have to fall back on survival activities.

I think the longer we hold them captive and prevent them from moving back, the more is going to be their reluctance to migrate again later on, and more serious is going to be the economic crisis. And this goes for both the labour-short states and the labour-surplus states.

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Image Courtesy: The New Indian Express/ Suvajit


The New Indian Express, 28 April, 2020, https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2020/apr/28/the-jean-dreze-interview-keeping-migrant-workers-from-returning-home-will-deepen-covid-19-financial--2136066.html?fbclid=IwAR2oMTKNOUXN5Z0ggNu9jtrOnBBnepi7H6UeBdLb


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