The migrant workers are rushing back because they don’t trust the Governments’ assurances
As the pandemic’s second wave surges, India’s migrant workers are again heading home, just like they did when the first wave resulted in a hard nationwide lockdown in a matter of four hours last March. This time around, fortunately, we are not witnessing the heartbreaking mass migration of impoverished workers with families in tow, carrying all their worldly goods on their shoulders, as they trudge back home in the searing summer. Now, the workers don’t trust the insensitive Governments, employers and city dwellers enough so as to be left in the lurch. As more cities come under the contagion’s grip and as the Governments start increasing the number of restrictions and curfews/short lockdowns, the migrant workers who had just started to resettle in the cities after returning to their jobs a few months ago, are rushing back. The trains going to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the biggest sources of migrant workers, are leaving Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi-NCR and Ahmedabad with standing room only.
Even though most of the workers know that they are returning to joblessness and penury, they say they prefer starving at home among their loved ones than be stranded in an alien place without any social security, hope or helping hand from the Governments or the people. The trauma they went through last year will stay a lifetime and they have chosen what, to their mind, is an easier option. However, this exodus does not augur well for the nation’s fiscal health that had just started recovering after last year’s hard lockdown delivered another crushing blow to an already tottering economy. Comprising 20 per cent of the workforce, migrant labour is vital to every economic sector, especially the informal sector and MSMEs, and constitutes nearly 50 per cent of India’s GDP. Even though most State Governments and the Centre, too, are clear that there will be no hard lockdown this time, the message seems to be lost on the unnerved workers. The only option for the Government to stop this migration is to get the message across loud and clear. The workers need to be assured that they will not be left to fend for themselves this time around. If the Governments fail to convince them, the nation’s rural and urban economies will be in a shambles. This is surely not something we can afford right now.
