As the Covid pandemic is not going away any time soon and a third wave is imminent, attention gets diverted to the migrant workers who form nearly a third of India’s population. Their sweat and toil is what keeps the nation in form and yet they are an unrecognized lot. The Supreme Court has rightly come to their help by asking states and Union Territories to put in place a scheme to feed them via free rations till the pandemic situation eases. The apex court has asked governments to implement the ‘one nation, one ration card’ scheme before July end to help the migrants.
Migrants mostly form the labour force for both agriculture and industries as also for urban upkeep. The affluent parts of some western and northern states draw this workforce from other regions. Those from under-developed and majorly populated states like Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh are drawn hugely to the affluent states where labour charges are high and work opportunities more. Based on the 2011 Census report, the migrant workforce constituted 50 crore people or more than 40 per cent of the population if the step-up in the last ten-years also is to be taken into account. Since they live in homes away from their native homes and hearths, they rarely get any government favour. They are simply left to the elements. They moved from area to area depending on work opportunities and mostly lived without the ration facility. The pandemic season from March last year hit this segment of the society hard as was well-documented from their plight to get back to their native places in the absence of work and wages due to the lockdowns.
A big question is, where was the need for a public interest litigation or Supreme Court intervention to address the basic requirements of the citizens, namely to have access to ration irrespective of where they lived and worked. Those running the central government were awakened to the sweep of this large segment of the population only when media highlighted their plight and foot-marches back to their native places; some even dying on the way. Yet, it failed to act in a decisive manner until the Congress caught on it with greater fervour with an eye on political gains. Half-hearted responses came from the central government while state governments couldn’t care less. This is the state of India today. The political class and the bureaucracy live in glass houses and are not responsive to even grim situations of the ordinary masses. Political sermons from the pulpit are no longer helping. People need food to eat.
