-Hindustan Times The Congress chief said the central government barely gave a four-hour notice of the lockdown, thus denying workers and migrant labourers the opportunity to return to their homes. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday attacked the government for charging train tickets from migrant labourers going back to their homes and announced that her party will bear the cost for the rail travel of all such workers stranded due to the...
More »SEARCH RESULT
BJP says 85% fare subsidy for special trains: Harping on a mere technicality? - Soumya Chatterjee
-TheNewsMinute.com Migrant Workers in many parts of the country are being made to pay Rs 1000 to Rs 1400 per head to return home. It’s the season for politics over train tickets, even as Migrant Workers across the country are confused, and struggling to reach home. The BJP on Monday claimed that the Indian Railways has subsidised 85% of ticket fare for special trains being run to transport Migrant Workers. It’s only...
More »In our pursuit of economic growth, we ignored voices of India’s informal sector for too long -Radhicka Kapoor
-The Indian Express As we grapple with a health, economic and humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, the immediate need is to provide emergency relief to cushion the effects of the dual shocks of the virus and lockdown on informal workers. COVID-19 is causing havoc across the world, destroying both lives and livelihoods. Developing countries such as India are particularly vulnerable as their vast informal workforce, which has no labour, social or health...
More »As Poverty Spikes Due to Lockdown, A Separate Package for Urban Distress is Urgently Needed -Siraj Hussain and Jugal Mohapatra
-TheWire.in Income-earning opportunities for a vast majority of India's urban poor, over the next few months, look bleak. What can be done for them? Over the last two months, India has watched in horror as lakhs of Migrant Workers and their families – some on cycles, many more on foot – walked back hundreds of kilometres from their place of work to their towns and villages. A recent rapid sample survey by the...
More »Cash-strapped migrants forced to pay for passage back home -Ajeet Mahale
-The Hindu Workers clueless on how to obtain and pay for mandatory medical certificate; Railways allowing only 54 passengers per coach Mumbai: “Yahan pe ghut ghut ke ji nahi sakte (It’s becoming unbearable to live here like this),” said Mohammad Hanif, a construction worker from Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh. Along with 100 others from the same district living in Saki Naka, Mr. Hanif wants to leave as soon as possible. The announcement of...
More »