We usually classify the working classes based on the colour of the collars they wear: White-collar and blue-collar. The tragic, startling and continuing drama on our highways has woken us up to the existence of a third category of our working classes. Let’s call them the collar-less workers.
Why collar-less, you might ask. And with good reason. I would suggest, therefore, that picture all the hundreds of people you might see in the course of one day, making our lives possible, safe, comfortable.
Those loading and unloading bricks, cement and steel from trucks. Hauling bricks and mortar at construction sites. Those ironing our clothes on the corners of our neighbourhoods, tending to our gardens, pulling our rickshaws, fetching and carrying, cutting our hair, frying samosas and jalebis at the local halwai’s.
How often do you see them actually wearing a shirt while working? Shirts are cumbersome in their jobs. So, they often take them off and work in the usual baniyans (singlets) or worn out tees.
But their shirtless backs do not make the jobs less important. You can’t do without them. With the barbers away, for example, even the prime minister’s moustache is hanging longer by the day. Check out the pictures from his various speeches and public appearances. We miss our press wala, our maali, our raddi wala, even the rag-picker.
This third category of working classes, that we somehow thought was invisible thus far, is much more numerous than the other two, collared classes. We’ve not been noticing these workers because they are so meshed in our lives, we take them for granted. And because they were silent. They are the ones now speaking up and making their presence felt.
So many carry their children; in one case outside Agra, even one hanging on a suitcase, though you can be sure no Samsonite has built wheels yet to survive a 500-km “walk”. Some carry old parents on their shoulders, obviously strong from life-long physical labour as the collar-less backbone of India’s economy.
Some deliver babies on the way, and some die. Run over by speeding trucks, trains, or felled by sickness. Read the story by ThePrint’s Jyoti Yadav and Bismee Taskin, for example, of Ram Kripal, 68, who travelled 1,600 km in a truck over four days from Mumbai to reach home in Sant Kabir Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, and collapsed just as he got close. He was thirsty, exhausted, just done with it. Tested only after his death, he was also positive for coronavirus.
Also read: 9-month pregnant woman travels 900 km from UP to Bihar, then made to wait hours for delivery
The good thing is, having discovered this missing Indian working class, we all want to help. The bad thing is, we still get it all wrong. That is because we still do not understand who they are. Let’s, for a test, run a little quiz among ourselves on who these tens of millions are.
They are very poor people, obviously, we will say. They are hungry, homeless, unemployed, with no incomes, no shoes, blistered feet, hopeless poor things. Children of a lesser God, somebody is bound to pull that out too. They are running back home in ignorance and panic. If only they were smart enough to know they might be safer in the cities, and so on.
We are all wrong. And it is because we understand them all wrong, our solutions are worse. Take food packets, collect used clothes, feel sorry for them, rant on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. ‘I am so heartbroken’, while talking about this never-ending exodus, is an expression used as often now as ‘this deadly coronavirus’. This is how you spell hypocrisy.
If you’d only stop and speak with any of these retreating workers and ask them what they were doing in the city, and what they were earning for it, you will know how wrong you were. A worker who does purely physical labour, like loading and unloading trucks, earns anything from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 a day. Of course, their working day isn’t necessarily eight hours. But that’s not why he/she came to the city.
This is for the category we unfortunately classify as ‘unskilled workers’. Anyone with a bit of training and skill — a tailor, a barber, mason, carpenter and so on — would earn a lot more. They aren’t exactly destitute, hungry and helpless people lucky to get three meals a day.
Most of them, in fact almost all of them, did not leave their villages because they were starving. They came here looking for better lives.
Migration within the country, from village to the city, from any city to a metro, is as much an aspirational urge as an engineer hunting for that H-1B visa and that holy grail of a Green Card, or what, especially in our southern states’ matrimonial bazaar, is called a GC. Saves words and money in a matrimonial ad, you see.
What a GC is to our middle-class children and children-in-law-to-be, is a Rs 600 per shift manual labourer’s job for the child of a marginal, subsistence farmer from deep inside western Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. They did not come to the cities to escape hunger, deprivation and destitution.
Ask them, with patience not pity, why they came here. What did they do with the money they earned? The answers you should get are on the lines of the following: To improve the quality of life for my family, children and myself. To have some surplus, which I save each day to send home, so my kids can go to a better school.
The millions you see going back are no beggars. They are a wonderful new generation of aspirational, working-class Indians whose pride and self-esteem has now been so rudely punctured. This is the greatest mass humiliation of India’s most hard-working millions in decades.
They are the builders of our booming economy, generators of surpluses, contributors to our demographic talent pool that improves by the day as they educate their children with that one dream the people of every resurgent nation and society have: My children should live a life better than mine. In the country whose GCs our children vie for, this is called living the American Dream.
Also read: Modi needs to give migrant workers a ‘New Deal’ to get them back to the cities
Narendra Modi and his government are hurting. They know they dropped this ball. The images and voices speak out to them from all corners of India, especially the Hindi heartland where their voters are.
They also read them wrong in believing that all they needed was a little money in their accounts and immediate succour. They miss the point that this sudden, shock-and-awe lockdown so thoroughly failed to take the fate of these millions into account that their lives are completely disrupted. It is this collar-less working class that fell between the cracks as the Lutyens’ bureaucracy gamed this lockdown.
And to know how wrong we get this, check out the security guard outside your house. They man the padlocked gates of your colony, shooing away ‘unauthorised’ visitors on behalf of Middle India’s equivalent of Kim Jong-un, the Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA). Why are these guards not walking back home with these hordes? Aren’t they concerned about their families, panicking about the virus? Aren’t they poor?
They are all of that, and yet stay put, because they are still assured of their wages, and understand they came to the city to take their families a step up in life. Almost all of them work double shifts and live a dozen to a room and save to send home. The difference is, their employers haven’t dumped them. If only this had been ensured for the rest just for a few weeks, crores of Indians would have been saved this trauma, and India this global embarrassment.
Also read: Hitching rides on trucks, highway pit stops in the heat — migrants continue their walk home
It is a stange morality that worries about the ‘global embarrassment’ caused to India by images of millions of migrants trudging home on foot. It shifts the focus away from the desprate plight of the migrants. The real tragedy or ’embarrassment’ is that no civilised state should have inflicted such horrendous sufferings on its less fortunate citizens.
It is a bad article. . Critics are not needed. Only nation builders with positive attitude are needed.
Where were nation builders before pandemic
Go to North Korea then Arun. We are a democracy. You are not required here.
It’s not only the govt that let them down but people like us also betrayed them. God have mercy upon them and mercy on us for we surely failed in our duty
I completely agree with the writer. But blaming Modi for entire plight of migrant workers is neither way can be justified. There was not a better way to get the country safe. While the writer raised real problem of workers facing, he has not suggested batter solution.
People had started getting an impression that Shekhar Gupta has become pro-Modi now! He pricks a tiny needle to that impression here. I don’t think anyone can point a finger to any fact mentioned in this article and call it a lie – that is about the facts in the article. The opinion side of the article – again, no one can call any of that a lie, for opinions are just that, opinions and not facts.
While Shekhar does bring out the 3rd, most ignored class in the country, he does not do justice here to the complete set of facts. I almost agree that the government dropped the ball here. I don’t think the government’s intent was lacking though, it was more a case of just plain missing it completely. They are trying to make amends, but that was always going to be difficult given the large numbers and the floating nature of this population. It would have been difficult even if they had not missed them in the first place too, rather it would have taken valuable time away in figuring out a workable solution for including this ‘collar-less’ population in the lockdown approach and we probably would have lost time in putting the restrictions.
What Shekhar misses though (I wouldn’t call intentional) is the ‘why’ of this situation. Why does this population have to go from their homes in search of this ‘American Dream’? Why can’t Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Odisha provide them means to achieve their dreams in their native states or even better, native places? This is not a recent problem. This has been festered over decades of apathy towards governance and improvements of people’s lives by successive governments since independence. I don’t want to get into the history of which government did or did not do what in each of these states, but it is this successive failure that has brought the country to this state of affairs, and Shekhar totally missed this part of the story in this article.
Yes that is a great point! No one dropped the BALL, even if it was dropped – it was not intentional at all, More of miscalculation of the entire game. Also agree – time is not for Blame game, time for a Good Game Plan!
Brilliantly written. SG is a writer who is supposed to show us the mirror, he is not a politician and it is not his job to find solutions. It has been Modi’s job for the last six years and he has not delivered. Modi came to power on his promises of reforms. One little jibe – ‘suit boot ki sarkar’ and he dropped the idea like the proverbial hot potato. In a sense, Modi is a coward who preferred staying in power to the the greater public good. l guess a politician would always prefer power to everything else.
जिन्हें आप आज बिना रोटी के दरबदर होता देख रहे हो, वो कुछ कम या ज्यादा की संख्या में, हर साल दो बार दरबदर होते हैं…
ये जो झोला उठाये, मासूमों को अपने संग चिपकाये, चले चले जा रहे हैं ना, ये सभ्यता और राष्ट्र रूपी भव्य महलों की नीवं में लगे पत्थर हैं जो सबसे पहले गाढ़े जाते हैं… फिर धरा में दब कर पूरे प्रासाद का वजन उठाते हैं.. बिना दिखे, बिना कुछ कहे… ये सब के उदर की क्षुधा शांत करने वाले गेहूँ और धान की फसल के वो अंश हैं जिन पर अन्न की बालीयाँ पनपती है अौर जो कटाई के बाद वहीं खेत में छोड़ दिये जाते हैं, सूख कर, जल कर अगली फसल तैयार करने को… साल में दो बार… पर पहले ये आपको दिखते नहीं थे क्योंकि तब आप अपनी अपनी जिंदगी में मशगूल थे, अगर ये आपके पास से भी निकल जाते थे, तो आप घृणा से अपनी नाक सिकोड़ लेते थे क्योंकि आपको इनसे पसीने की दुर्गन्ध आती थी… आप इन्हें आज केवल इसलिए देख पा रहे हैं क्योंकि आज आपकी जिंदगी कुछ रुकी हुई है… कल जब आपकी जिंदगी दोबारा चल पड़ेगी, तब आपको फिर से दिखने बंद हो जायेंगे ये…ये नीवों के पत्थर, ये फसलों के अंश…
-तेज़
Why didn’t the governments give, atleast 2 or 3 days, notice & arrange transportation for the Urban labourers to return home ??
After 1st day’s CARONA national bunch, suddenly stopping Transportation, is the worst thing done, even by State Governments.
I was feeling guilty when I ran & occupied a seat in a Private taxi, when many more young ladies were still looking scared, in that evening.
Mr.Yedeurappa, no engineer/ special adviser was needed to take this decision to allow poor people to go back, instead of crying on the Roads of cities
Is it not possible to have stalls along the highways like they have for marathons and ‘Warkaris’ with free water or buttermilk/ dry snacks for these people trudging home ?
If only christening one of the most important pillars of the so far burgeonig economy would do them any justice, let them be named Grey Collars and each one of us do our bit, while we see them on highways and roads in the scorching Sun, not just whiz past in our vehicles ignoring their plight.
Let’s think of the ways how they can be helped at this stage, immediate help to give them strength, which they have got in plenty already.
Good point, Collar-less worker – my guess is, mostly construction workers!!!
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And suddenly our “educated” consciousness is activated…seeing some pictures & videos…otherwise, since 1947 we were playing the ostrich…
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The interesting thing is, as Shekhar Gupta was saying, they are not necessarily poor…and I know, they sometimes earn more than Primary school teachers in Bangalore’s mushrooming private schools…
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The real impoverished “citizens” are there in specific pockets in Central India – say Bundelkhand…and we care little for them…media do not track them and we do not see them…
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I always felt India should have 500-700 states, each district made into an independent state, with a CM, with a capital City…else poorer districts remain in the black holes forever…
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And the council of CMs – the Indian Parliament….just one election!!! not MLA and MPs
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Imagine, the population of Uttar Pradesh at 200+ million is bigger than that of Russia, same as Brazil…people are busy with NOIDA, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Allahabad etc…Bundelkhand is too insignificant …
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One suggestion – stop reading newspapers and 9 O’clock news…try to figure it out yourself…
It is easy to be wiser in hindsight. Nevertheless, this is a well written article & just because the author is all the blame at centre’s doorstep, the problems outlined are real.
PM Modi & his team for it totally wrong for several reasons
1. State governments did nothing expecting the centre to take all decisions.
2. The employers quickly washed their hands off though it is their responsibility to care for people who work for them. Remember, PM Modi in one of his addresses urged every well meaning citizen to take care of those who did their work?
3. Probably, they are not a part of anybody’s vote bank.
Sekar Gupta in his own style has,finally,got time to write a piece regarding the plight of migrant workers,using choicest words,satisfying himself that he has done great service to these classes of working people of India by a new classification,coining collarless workers,ignoring the old coinage of unorganised workers. It must have pricked his consciousness towards the migrant workers by just juxtoposing the emigrant workers. you cannot hide the fact under the cover of aspirational Indian,that they have come not only from BIMARU states but also from east and far eastern india only to escape from hunger,abject poverty etc..,most of them are doing only menial jobs getting better wages in metro and other cities.They live in a very bad condition and save some money only to feed their large family members who are virtually nothing.Some of them are bringing their spouses and little ones also. you may also notice the walking millions along with their wife and children ,some with elderly also.What they have saved is only some utensils and set of cloths.exposing the Corporate India the hollowness of their dream of becoming Super power to the whole world to see. It is a slap on the face of these so called aspirational indians. Unless they are politcally organised,focussing their agenda of better living standards and refused to accept for pittance,there is no real improvement. Sharing of concern and empathy is not enough,though welcome.Equality and distribution of wealth alone save them in the long run. Hope 21st century belongs to them. MERA BHARAT MAHAN, Sab ke sath, sab ke vikas in the true sense.
The last time these people appear ed in nees was during Notebandhi. That was 1st time Black Englishmen saw queues and said “are you serious”
No one is asking question why on first place these people have to leave UP Bihar for meagre jobs while Private limited parties ruled these states. Bengal joined this league of elite BIMARU states after being ruled 40 yrs in a strech by half minded comrades and their award winning scholars
1. What the author is saying about migrant workers is true but is it not true that all these years we have never cared to take steps for these migrants’ welfare? Many city-dwellers like me have helplessly watched, on TV screens, pathetic scenes of migrant workers walking on foot to their village, hundreds of kilometers away, in States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, etc. This author’s views expressed in this article would certainly provoke many among us to think about need for implementation of urgent labour law and other reforms. 2. I wish to say something about just one aspect- issues related to employability of landless/unskilled workers. 3. Uttar Pradesh and many northern States with a huge number of landless workers have to deal with these issues on a priority basis. 4. Is it not true that whether it is the State government of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha or of Rajasthan, not one of these governments has ever bothered to find out the migrant workers’ problems? In fact, each one these State governments has simply refused to take cognizance of implications/impact of migration on its own economy or on economy of the States to which workers were migrating year after year.
5. I think once we are out of coronavirus threat, and once our economy gets back on path of revival, we need to do undertake a thorough study of all issues related to migration of landless workers and their rights. 5. I believe various issues are as follows: (a) how many and why landless workers are migrating, (b) how political leadership of States, particularly Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan, etc., from where migration is taking place, has never been held accountable for poor management of the available natural resources and human capital, (c) what should be responsibility of the States which while providing opportunities of employment to migrant workers, show hardly any concern about issues relating to workers’ welfare, particularly about their housing requirements, healthcare needs, etc. ,(d) what kind of laws are required to regulate employment of the migrant workers and how to implement them effectively once they are enacted, (e) urbanization related growth of slums in many metros which has a direct connection with increase in number of migrant workers. Lastly, representatives of those sectors of economy which employ migrant workers should ideally be involved in this study of migrant workers’ issues.
Mr. Guptaji, it is so easy to crtise anybody. But it is also responsibility of the creatisiser to offer certain solutions or the remedies too. It was responsibility to maintain their workers for whom they were working and of govt of respective states. They had to provide food and essentials and has to ask for assistance from central govt. The business owner, industrialist and state govts failure. In federal govt system, the central govt roll shall be limited to procure enough fund to all state govt. What is the duty and functions of state govt? Just to enjoy power? In such unexpected, beyond control, cirtumtancis proves the ability of state govt and people keeps in mind, the afforts put by Central and state govt.
Not at all the responsibility of the critic to any solutions or remedies. On the other hand the one who is criticoised should thank him for criticism, and at once try to correct his mistakes and stupidities. You think that the critics are there to baby-feed the PM? Why was the lockdown announced with just 4 hours notice? Why didn’t he think of hundreds of millions of migrant workers? If he can’t act responsibly, then he shpuld resign. No emplotyer can keep the workers if there is no work. Where would the money to pay the salaries would come from? And how can states do anything if they don’t have money? Why didn’t Modi talk to the states before announcing the lockdown about what they can do, and what they can’t? He has taken all the decisions, and so he is responsible for all of them.
Who’s paying y’all to publish
PM Mr Modi and his advisors committed Hara – Kiri , when in arrogance the PM on 24th March declared lockdown giving 4 hours only , without considering the situation that this lakhs of colorless workers would be put in , instead of correcting this mistake , the srrogancy of PM continued and lakhs of poor migrants suffered just like Jews suffered at the hands of Nazis , by the time PM realised that these migrants didn’t give shit about his lectures and started walking home , the PM was forced to announce to allow migrants to travel to their native place , but his hurt arrongance made the poor migrants , with no money , no food , hungry , no water pay through their noses rail and bus fare , those who hadno single rupee , started walking home , PM’s arrongance didn’t stop from getting revenge , in the 20 lakh corore package declared , there is hardly any actual and physical relief for this poor migrants , PM and his Govt., didn’t consider as humans but as objects to be exploited and discarded , now realising a blunder that 22 seats election are on the horizon , and a majority of these poor objects would be voting , probably against BJP for PM and his men did to them , the PM had hurriedly ordered Chauhan’s Govt., to provide everything to these poor migrants or else the BJP Govt., is likely to go in permanent lockdown .
State governments are squarely to be blamed for this mess created by mass exodus of migrants,what for District collectors,DGsof police are there,having no concern for the common people,this is worst scenarios in a country where we have elected MLA and MPs democratically. We are living in British Raj and no officers are self accountable it seems. These migrant people will never forgive this autocratic central and state governments and the future will tell what will happen to this great country after serial of mistakes like demonetization,faulty GST implementation and the mishandling of this great pandemic.
History is repeating itself.
More than a 1000 years ago Hinduism collapsed because of its own internal contradictions. The Muslim invasion just accelerated that collapse.
Modi had a great chance in 2014 to take the Hindus in a new direction. He blew this chance.
And seeing the reaction of Hindus to the plight of other Hindus in the current lockdown, it is clear that nothing has changed.
Let’s not even talk about Kashmir and other minorities. This is Hindus vs other Hindus.
Hinduism if ever was any such thing, never collapsed. In history almost all countries were conquered by others sometime or other and remained under subjugation for long periods. Turks and Mughals and later British conquered us . That’s part of our history.
And contrary what is told often, Indian Hindu kings like Bijay Singha or cholas from south conquered territories outside India. About being insensitive to poor men’s plight, it is universal and a class characteristic and nothing to do with religion.
You miss my point. All occupations last for short periods. Not a single country has been occupied for a 1000 years. Not one except India.
Sure one can quibble that there was no India or no Hinduism. But you get the point.
But worry about the next 1000 years. The way these migrants have been humiliated, India will not rise again in the near future.
In most countries after a time distinction between occupiers and occupieds got blurred because of intermixing and cultural integration. So no country remained as before.
Migrant labour issue will be forgotten soon. Caste dynamics and dominance will be the political issue for another 1000 years as before.
Ah no sir! Study history carefully. In the last 1000 years or so, most countries have maintained their identities even as they absorb foreign influences. But why talk about outsiders? India has new invaders now: the BJP! That is India’s tragedy imposed on the poor, helpless, gentle people who are too refined to openly revolt, whether the invaders are internal (BJP) or external. All people need something to bind them (religion==ri-ligare (to bind)). Hinduism doesn’t provide that (a positive thing, really) . So people use caste. It’s a kind of religion.
Even during such a major national crisis some people cannot think beyond caste and religion. Shame on them.
Ok. I am ashamed. But who is allowing me to go beyond caste and religion in today’s political discourse.?
@rajeev. Who are bjp? Just another group of caste and class warriors.
@Anon Agreed. The BJP is like that.
It’s a long way. But we have to at least have a rough idea where we need to go. Neither the Khan Market gang (to use Modi’s favorite derogatory term), nor the Hindutva gang have a clue.
This is both frightening and exhilarating, for it points to an exciting time ahead of problem solving.
But seeing the wanton cruelty being imposed on a 100 million innocent people doesn’t give me much hope. Indian society has become cruel.
@rajeev Cruelty to poor is certainly not a new phenomenon. It may sound irrelevant but I want to share a thought. I saw a Hollywood movie 55 days in Peking. China of 100 or so years ago. Two ordinary Chinese were talking to themselves amidst soldiers of different nationalities who were in turn talking which Chinese peasants didn’t understand. So one Chinese asked another what these people are saying. The person answered, all these people of different nationalities are saying in their language’ China is ours.’ Today’s China is a far cry from those days. India will also become an egalitarian society someday.
@Anon. Thanks for the details of the Chinese movie. I wish I could share your optimism about the future of India.
Talking about cruelty, even Hitler didn’t declare war on his own people (leaving the Jews aside). Here the BJP has declared war on Indians – not just the minorities. It’s still mind boggling that people are cycling distances of up to 1500km. Does it make any sense at all?
But who knows? After this crisis things may change.
It was a Hollywood movie with Charlton Heston,Ava Gardner etc directed by Nicholas Ray, a reputed director. As for bjp, so long their core support base is intact and Hindu Muslim strategy is working well, they feel they don’t have to care for anything else.
Dear Guptaji,
You are now get an opportunity to say something against current Govt. and particularly PM Modi,
You are kind of educated person who made earlier assumption that because of BCG vaccine we may no need to worry, our weather is hot we may not need to worry. In short there was no solution to the current situation you have to assume and take chances.
Now Govt did immediate lock down and your argument was why migrant are not allowed to go back to their home.
if it was allowed and Covid positive cases increase in the rural India you may certainly argue that why migrant worker allowed to go back to their villages.
Suppose we were in good position after three weeks of lock down and we need to open our industry, because of your earlier assumption of BCG , hot weather etc. you may argue that why migrant worker were allowed to go back home.
In short it is not a situation where you can think about it in advance.
Yes all Govt, including state Govt failed in taking care of migrant worker.
Will you offer the same line of argument if you or your family members were stuck in a remote corner of India on 24th March 2020 ?
Dear Guptaji,
You are now get an opportunity to say something against current Govt. and particularly PM Modi,
You are kind of educated person who made earlier assumption that because of BCG vaccine we may no need to worry, our weather is hot we may not need to worry. In short there was no solution to the current situation you have to assume and take chances.
Now Govt did immediate lock down and your argument was why migrant are not allowed to go back to their home.
if it was allowed and Covid positive cases increase in the rural India you may certainly argue that why migrant worker allowed to go back to their villages.
Suppose we were in good position after three weeks of lock down and we need to open our industry, because of your earlier assumption of BCG , hot weather etc. you may argue that why migrant worker were allowed to go back home.
In short it is not a situation where you can think about it in advance.
Yes all Govt, including state Govt failed in taking care of migrant worker.
Our FM will say : I came from a family where there are no labours. Like the way she talked during onion price.
20 lakh crore shouldn’t be called package it is a dept given to poor where they have to pay again with interest.
Till now world bank sponsored 15 k crores = 2B$ where is the amount.
Yesterday Centrel govt announced states should take care of migrant workers, but govt will not allocate any money to states.
Firstly they are not Modi’s working class. Secondly a big chunk and most vulnerable of those who are suffering as simple initiatives like Aadhar and one nation and one ration card get hindered by kagaz nahi dekhayenge brigade. If I have to direct their anger then it would be there so it will be never again. How 3 years Shekhar discussing Adhar bill and then courts. Then ration card. I will get back with other points before I get over your melodrama of the headline. A simple check those who were opposing Adhar are now most concerned abt migrants.
Of course. Adhaar card would have flown the migrants directly to their homes. Who knows it might even have magically stopped the goods train that ran over the 16 unfortunate people. Even after knowing what Bhakts are capable of, one is still surprised at the depths to which they can sink.
You mean Rahul or Shekar gupta would have stopped the train or road accidents. Arguments of submission stamped people who call other names and themselves liberals. Now why did congress ruled states agree to one nation and one ration card.
Corona has changed the narrative completely. Does anyone remember the so called Masterstrokes tom-tommed by BJP propagandists: Surgical strike, Ram mandir, Article 370, Citizen amendment bill etc. All future election will be fought only on one agenda: CORONA. And Modi is on a very slippery slope here. Whatever he does, it is going to backfire on him. People are going to punish him and not the State governments because it was he who announced the 4-hour-notice Lockdown.
Jesus told you that?
I guess logic told him that but the gobar and gaumutra ramesh ingests daily makes him fail to see the point.
The plight of this strong working class (to say them migrant in their own country is improper) shows that India will grow more stronger after Covid 19. The governments will recognise that these people should not be allowed to go other States in future, they can make their mother States more stronger if opportunities are made available to this class. It is unfortunate that the States where they were working has committed a big mistake by not addressing their concerns. So far as Union Government is concerned, it was left with no alternative but to lockdown in order to avoid a situation worst than USA (because India is about four times more in population size than USA). But due to fear human being commits some errors, here in this pandemic situation, District Administration could have atleast made arrangements for suitable transportation for this working class but barring some States, this was not done. CMs of this poor administration can learn from Sanyasi Baba Yogi Adityanath.
This lockdown has shown us Indians to be deeply amoral employers. No wages is justonepart of the story. The quality of accommodation is so abysmal that trying to remain within the 4 walls without going out is almost literally suffocating. The quality of food distributed in some places i doubt even crows would eat. All of India got it wrong. But Modi, demigod to millions, got it wrong most of all.
A brilliant analysis, Sekhar Gupta.
Categorized as skilled,semi-skilled, and unskilled, they happen to be the backbone of a manufacturing plant or as a matter of fact any type of industry. My exposures to this class as a plant head in Haryana did establish the fact that a plant cannot run without them. During my tenure, I came to know each of them by name, their home town, and even their family members. In fact,the bond was so strong that I became their friend, their father figure and their protector as well.
It is very sad that our nation never even bothered to realize the impact of such a sudden lockdown.
Hypocrites we are…a skilled worker is only one who sits in office, attends meetings, and imagines he is the reason for company’s turnaround at every meeting..all in his head, does not even credit those who made it simpler for him to sit on the chair.
..the real skilled workers, my bai, my dhobi, my sweeper et al are the managers of my life as they make my every day chores so simple and I can take my work and family forward only because of them. Our family till date has valued them so and will continue to do so. We all should make it our responsibility to respect them.
An excellent article. WHO had declared Covid-19 outbreak as a global pandemic on March 11. In addition to this declaration, there were enough indications early March 2020 to know that the pandemic was assuming global proportions and no country was likely to be spared. We declared lockdown on 24th March, 8 pm. Thus enough space was available to provide a forewarning to all those who were likely to be affected due to lockdown. But as usual, the decision came as a bolt from the blue. Had some warnings given, this collarless class would have planned their journeys back home well in advance. Or else, subsequent to the lockdown, trains services dedicated to take these migrants to their destinations could have been planned to complete the task in March itself. These collarless migrants were not likely to be infected in this early stage and the threat of spreading infection in the rural areas of Hindi heartlands was minimal. Now, at this stage due to the unplanned and chaotic exodus, the threat of the spread is real and significant. The tragic spectacle of lakhs of hapless migrants walking in the scorching sun reminded all of us of the partition. While the 1947-petition was due to religious divide, this speaks of the economic partition of the country. The most unfortunate thing is that even if these migrants somehow reach their destinations, this is no solution. They will have to come back to reclaim their jobs and the struggle continues,
The last migrant that is suffering today, walking back and even facing road accidents, is the investment of the politicians, now abandoned because the profit has been realized.
These are the people brought from rural areas through the brokers many a times a bonded labor. They were housed in illegal tenements owned by the local goons turned brokers and politicians.
A flourishing industry with no investment would have continued fore ever, but for the COVID-19.
SG is a known armchair critic. He does “walk the talk” in his sleep.
straight came to comments section to know what readers have to say about fake news peddler and sold out Sekhar gupta
Shouldn’t you be on Op news or Zee news instead Datta, what gives us humble readers the privilege of your August company today.
Fake narrative starts again !!
Modi doesn’t understand the paper wala, doodh wala, raddi wala, really? Don’t worry Gupta Saab, they understand Modi, that is why they put one of them, a chai wala, in Prime Minister’s seat
Insightful article.
It’s the white collar middle-class insensitivity that has driven the toiling people to despair and their long march home. We the middle-class have cocooned ourselves in a bubble, where these migrant workers exist for our comfort and petty indulgences. They are the faceless and voiceless minions.
It is only when we dig deep and try to understand why someone has come a thousand kilometres from home to live in an urban ghetto that we realise what dream they are pursuing: it is to give their children a better life – a simple aspiration really but difficult for us to appreciate.
We still live unfortunately with our feudalistic mind-set. And our politicians and mandarins merely reflect that mind-set.
Well the article did highlight the shortcomings og govt but it is always easy to do postmortem then surgery and all these labourers are from states which were not voting for BJP 6 YEARSago and should not be questions asked to them who were ruling them for 70 years why did they built nothing for them and only raised slogans like garabi hathao
This is the same Mr Gupta who is promoting an article on The Print that encourages fake news against the Govt.
You are a sold out journalist Mr Gupta. Sold out to Mummy & Pappu…… and sinking fast.
The government and employers could have jointly to stay put, if salary/advance was given to them to stay put where they were living. The advance could have been adjusted over period of time. As for RWA, the office bearers and residents are most selfish who have prevented them to enter colonies out of fear of getting corona without realising that the hands of domestic servants are always soap socked and they are least affected.
The problems of these migrant workers are very visible because they are shown on tv day in and day out. of course the problem is really there. but there is also this blue collored workers with hitherto regular salary now either jobless or with salary cut with all their loans and no means of support. there plight is not stated in the media. their plight is also bad except that they did not have to face the misfortune of going back home because thankfully they have a shelter as of now.
Yes it’s embarrassing to me at least. Shekhar you undergone the pain lest you couldn’t have written such a soul touching article. And nobody could feel the same pain in order to write such as this. And nobody would ever. We have failed the people though they already had lost the hope but now they have lost any semblance of trust in us.
Lesser human beings – no balconies to bang thalis, no luxury of switching off nonexistent lights to light wasteful lamps, and too busy trudging under the stark summer to see unnecessary flypasts. Still don’t believe they’re run-them-dowm citizens? Except for a miniscule number, check how they’re even spoken to by our marauding reporters, no courtesy of asking names, no thank you, nothing!
Sorry friends for treating you so disgustingly bad.
That is the Indian mentality. Whether it’s a reporter, mantri, bureaucrat, policeman, government official or even an ordinary person, there is no respect for those of a lower economic strata. The poor have no names and no identity. They exist only to be scorned or pitied.
Thanks Shekhar Gupta for this insightful piece. Have been following you for a long time and still await your articles with interest and hope and always aware that there is someone who will pick the issues either forgotten or lost sight of and shake us to do something. Only hope that India as a whole does something for their long-forgotten but essential cogs engaged in a modern nation-building.
Modified lies along with his loudmouthed spokesperson SD on barking,,, is seeing a downfall, none of them have an iota of what they talk about and are confusing the nation
Excellent article.
All these people are self respecting aspirational Indians who sacrifice their comforts for their family and save for the education of their children so that they can lead a better life than themselves.
The over zealous minions of the govt were only happy to show their suddenly awarded POWER to stop anything and everything. None were keen on helping these people.
Desperate attempt to blame modi. India is doing reasonably well in it’s fight against corona. As for migrant’s troubles, state governments are equally to blame.
Modified lies along with his loudmouthed spokesperson SD on barking,,, is seeing a downfall, none of them have an iota of what they talk about and are confusing the nation
You miss the point. We are all to blame because we don’t understand- Modi is simply our reflection.
This shows the desperation to defend the indefensible, this government. The lockdown of a country of the size of India was unplanned and unprepared, let’s admit. And still no adequate attention and care for these suffering lot. This is the reality.
Bhakts might try their usual diversionary tactics by trying to blame state governments but everyone knows who is responsible for this massive humanitarian crisis.
Can we ask Modi to give his followers one more task after Thali and Diya.. to fast for 24 hours without food and water so that we can learn what exactly hunger is all about..? Pl stop making fun of these migrant workers plight..
When the entire governance is centralized, how can you blame state government…its true that lockdown has no strategy….takes lives of many migrants….
At the end of reading ‘another great piece’ from ‘oscillating’ SG…..”AAP KEHNA KYA CHAHTHEHO?”
Modi got it wrong. yes, Modi gets it wrong every time haha. the article doesnt mention what could have done. It is very easy, especially like a seasoned journo like SG to RETROSPECTIVELY point out every ‘mistake’ that could have been avoided. but the same SG, despite having ample time to think, brainstrom, blah blah…, doesnt even have a suggestion as to how this problem could have been avoided. There is no mention of the role of state governments who are equally responsible for this scenario. There is no mention of state government(s) refusing to accept migrant workers returning home!! This is very very bad article which wrongly accuses the central govt for all the problems.
I think SG is badly in need of that head massage from that “collar less” barber…
Many things could have been done, mate:
-Hotels and schools which are lying empty any way could have been requisitioned and taken over to host the people who are homeless or in overcrowded tenements(several other countries have done this)
-State governments could have been consulted and given advance notice before announcing the lock down with barely four hours notice so that they could have prepared better (South Africa- three days notice before lockdown)
-Provision for arrangement of free food for migrants and daily wagers through local panchayat and municipalities by providing supplies from overflowing FCI godowns(Kerala government has done this very effectively)
-Much more importantly,income security should have been provided to daily wagers on day one of lockdown rather than announcing some half baked schemes more than 50 days into the lock down (typical case of putting a cart before a horse)making them stakeholders and his would have stopped millions walking on the highways
I know,All of this is too much to do for a government which is all show and no substance and only interested in creating an image of doing something and boosting the supreme leader.
Elected current PM , his full team of politicians & persons of enormously salaried of select highest calibre in Govt machinery are supposed to be brainy to find solutions & implement to every dire need of citizens . Politicians in power & their fan citizens are now washing off their hands & responsibility by saying common citizens & critics should suggest ways to solve their failures to address dire needs of citizens specially in corona19 time. It’s appearin a pity on our democratic Govt set up.
This write-up reminds me of Prashant Kishor’s comment on Karan Thapar’s interview,, “to understand what they are going through, talk to them (migrants)”
You missed the most inhuman part of it. Most migrant workers must have walked 1000’s of miles in empty stomach as food was nowhere to be had.
There he goes again. The headline itself starts with an anti-India & anti-Modi message. Mr. Gupta, you have alienated a large proportion of your readers who are now tired of criticism for the sake of criticism. I used to respect your journalism until recently Mr. Gupta.
And honestly Mr. Gupta, it’s a bit rich when the likes of you, the Congress & your Khan-market ilk take up cudgels on behalf of “the poor”.
I agree completely! How did Modi get this SO wrong? Or is it the case that he has never cared for this group of people? They have been invisible so far. But the good thing might be that now that they have become visible, they will not be forgotten. Maybe even the BIMARU states will try to retain them and build the industires that will employ them, create job opportunities here in their home states.
Madam ji, you are a Social Entrepreneur, educationist, activists… WOW. you rightly said, the crux of the problem is THAT these “collar less” people dont get job in their HOME STATE, which then turn them into a MIGRANT. so the state governments, irrespective of the party, has to be blamed for the CREATION OF MIGRANTS because the they failed in ‘BUILDING INDUSTRIES TO EMPLOY THEM’.
BUT EVEN YOU SQUARELY CHOSE TO BLAME MODI !!
THIS IS THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH OUR INTELLIGENTSIA, they move with an agenda to blame OTHERS, BUT THEY THEMSELVES DONT HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS NEITHER PLAY A CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE.
THIS IS THE REASON, OPPOSITION OF OUR COUNTRY IS ALSO FAILING, THEY JUST DONT KNOW ANYTHING OTHER THAN BLAME, BLAME AND BLAME…
This is too optimistic and far-sighted view. The problem has been created by all of a sudden decision making by our ministry at the centre. I have written to Zee news about the hectic decision-making process but they overlooked my ideas. There was no need to clamp down the lockdown and shutdowns in such a hurry without assessing the situation properly and without giving ample time to the general public to seek a safer shelter before enforcing the lockdown. Some trains and buses should have been engaged to transport all these migrant labours and the downtrodden to their native places before imposing the lockdown.
But who listens to an unknown person who has no credentials as a political leader or a journo?
very sad to see the migrant trouble ,it is more pain i feel ? ….Modi will try again through the EVM machine to win the Election ?
Finally Guptaji found time to write about the displaced migrants. I thought Guptaji will write only after they reach their villages. Still not a word of discontent for feku maharaj.