-ThePrint.in Our research in Noida for the past two years shows many poor migrant workers do not think of city of work as their home. They are treated as outsiders and live in cramped spaces. Thousands of migrant workers began walking home from Delhi and adjoining areas of the NCR within just a few days of the 21-day coronavirus lockdown, alarming the central and state governments. They ignored calls to stay put...
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India’s seasonal migrants have been invisible for too long. This crisis should be a wake-up call -Rohan Venkataramakrishnan
-Scroll.in This is an important reminder that policies with a 120 million-person hole at the heart of them are flawed. India’s chaotic attempt to go into a lockdown to combat the coronavirus has had an unusual side-effect: it has the attention of the elites, ensconced in their homes during the three-week period, to the plight of the country’s massive migrant labour population. The Central Government’s failure to adequately plan forced hundreds of thousands...
More »An inadequate lockdown package -Brinda Karat
-The Hindu The government must ensure that the spectre of SARS-CoV-2 is not replaced by the spectre of hunger The Central Government has asked States to seal borders to prevent lakhs of workers, who have been rendered jobless overnight with no guarantee of wages and shelter, from reaching their villages. The workers are to be herded into quarantine zones. These atrocious actions amount to a mass criminalisation of the labour force of...
More »From apathy to action -Reetika Khera
-The Hindu In dealing with the crisis, the Centre should not only learn from States but also act on its own In dealing with the health and economic crisis, the Central Government’s apathy is disappointing. The Prime Minister’s speech created panic even for the well-off. For the most vulnerable, it triggered a huge exodus from the cities. They were given neither time to prepare for the unplanned lockdown nor support to cope...
More »Stimulus is less than what it appears to be, govt must do more for farmers -Ajay Vir Jakhar
-The Indian Express Farmers have wholeheartedly voted for the PM twice; it is the time he reciprocated the feelings and returned the favour. Every season has an end for a harvest to begin. April is upon us; the Indian summer will soon sear the land and wheat harvest will commence in full measure in Punjab & Haryana, while it has already begun in other parts of the country. Other than that, we...
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