"Thankless Urban India"

Mass exodus of migrants to native villages , was not welcomed by rural India. It merely accepted regular remittances. The migrants should forget returning to earlier work places and should, instead, help their own native states in economic development.

States governments of UP, Bihar must create work for the poor and stop them from going to other States in search of employment. Urban India failed to provide poor migrants, food and lodgings, let alone express gratitude for contributing to States' economy. Let urban India face human tragedy as punishment for not absorbing the migrants.

The big joke going viral in Beijing  these days is “ how could India send space mission to Mars and the Moon when it cannot figure out how to send humans,a 1000 Kms on earth” ( @LinBiYao Twitter account,China).He also twittered  “ Kerala is the first of the big States as it is a communist state”

A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

No beggars, Skilled Workers only

Migrants are not beggars but skilled, trained and experienced workers. They work on machines in small/ micro one-man enterprises and businesses. They have suffered due to lack of honest implementation of labour laws. We still pride in using the term “majdoor” (derogatively just as Chaiwala/doodhwala/policewala) instead of calling them electricians, plumbers, mechanic, packers, transporters, shop executive (learn from foreign operators who treat their staff with some respect e.g. “delivery executive” rather than “ladka” or any “wala”- a variant of the Varna Vyavastha. They were forced to migrate by incompetent governments in the states, who failed to use their services for economic development. Such states benefited from the money sent home by these workers. When COVID-19 forced them to return home, those states turned cold as their money alone was welcome, not they. Had they the right vision, they would have utilized the services of these skilled/trained and experienced workers by developing MSME industries, providing necessary facilities to start those businesses. Instead, politicians only played dirty politics on the misery of the returning migrants. It is some of these very majdoors who have made India proud by producing required number of face masks/PPE kits making India self-reliant largely. Politicians quote figures of lost employment/jobs in tens of Crores. The plight of migrant workers is a result of “under-payment”. Had they been paid the prescribed wages for their labour, their financial condition would have been better to survive temporary job loss. They generally work 12 hours a day without a break. Our economists consider it cheap labour even though it is exploitation. So, they are called just “majdoor”! People in India don’t realize the value of work and workers contribution without which neither machines can run nor businesses nor even households in metros. Yet we refuse to call them anything more than majdoor. The politicians of all shades, who are shedding crocodile tears for the migrant majdoors have given them only slums with deplorable sanitation arrangements, schools, hospitals etc. in all these 73 years, something worse than what the feudal order had given them. We treat them like the British labour during the industrial revolution in England which gave birth to thinkers like Karl Marx. Working in the informal/unorganized sector, they are not protected by labour laws like those in the organized sector. That is how the macro and micro economists have planned for economic growth in India! The employment potential of the informal sector is estimated to be 80%. It means, it is a loss more for the Indian Economy rather than the migrant workers. The politicians have not provided these majdoors any support in terms of food or shelter even for a day but resorted to feigning concern for them. They only sell liquor and opium to them so that they continue to work at less than lawful remuneration. The most questionable role was that of the trade unions, which did not come forward to provide succour to these majdoors in distress in the current disruptive times brought about by COVID-19. Trade Unions/ Leftists played petty politics in collusion with other family concerns (political party) though they survive on support of majdoors/ proletariat for big political rallies against the government or the employers.

M L Gupta