Re: [IAC#RG] PM MODI's SPEECHES AND BROKEN PROMISES ARE RECYCLED HOT AIR

Like Mr. Aires Rodrigues, I too don't like to listen to our Honorable PM. But I did on May 12th, and for the first 35 minutes, I thought I was listening to him addressing the country from the ramparts of the Red Fort. 

I was hoping that he would directly announce some tangible relief for the 'collarless labour', (as distinct from the blue and white-collar workers). The huge numbers of collarless workers didn't seem to figure anywhere in the Governments efforts to control the virus and the calamitous consequences of that oversight is visible even 50 days after lockdown was announced.  

I feel sad that my instinct reacts in this way, being brought up to keep to one's given word.

Regards

Dr. Rajan

---

From: indiaresists-request@lists.riseup.net <indiaresists-request@lists.riseup.net> on behalf of Aires Rodrigues <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2020 1:57 AM
To: indiaresists@lists.riseup.net <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net>
Subject: [IAC#RG] PM MODI's SPEECHES AND BROKEN PROMISES ARE RECYCLED HOT AIR

 

There is rightly a sense of disbelief and a trust deficit with those in Power.  At that 2014 election rally at Merces in Goa after promising 'Acche din' Narendra Modi gave us an assurance and vowed that money stashed away in Swiss banks would be brought back and 15 lakhs would be credited into everyone's bank account. Obviously, a forlorn hope and disappointment for the many and a broken promise by a PM who knew full well that he had no intention of keeping or capable of honouring. I have stopped listening to any of his blabbering as it always leads to disappointment and frustration. It is always hot air and much ado about nothing.

However, when it was announced at short notice that the Prime Minister was going to address the nation on 12th May at 8 pm at the height of a grave and worrying pandemic, I chose to be glued to listen to what he had to say with a hope that he had finally found something worthwhile to communicate.

After half an hour into his discourse, I could not figure out what the hell he wished to communicate. As it was a damp squib, a much ado about nothing, I decided to hit the pillow after hearing that he was planning a 20 lakh crore cash stimulus to prop up a failing economy, without revealing the source of that money. It all sounded a repeat of his 2014 election stunt at Merces.

India's limp along Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has long lost the plot and needs to be replaced by someone who can think out of the box with vision, economic policies and correctly targeted investment with full transparency and zero tolerance to corruption. This is vital and urgently required to chart India's road to financial recovery especially in view of the current COVID-19 raging pandemic.

But there is no hope whatsoever that our polity and political turf will ever improve. It is only further deteriorating and awfully decaying by the day. The unacceptable antics and behavior of some of our politicians in recent times has turned it into a despised profession and looked upon with disdain and held in low esteem by the very people that they are meant to serve.

William Hazlitt a great essayist and English philosopher, observed that ''some persons make promises for the pleasure of breaking them''. PM Modi's track record perfectly fits this description. John D. Rockefeller, the powerful business magnate and philanthropist believed in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's word should be as good as his bond, that character- not wealth or power or position- is of supreme worth.  

Some years ago, Supreme Court Judges B.N.Agarwal and G.S.Singhvi had observed that even God cannot save our country from such politicians. Amen

 

Aires Rodrigues

Advocate High Court

C/G-2, Shopping Complex

Ribandar Retreat,

Ribandar – Goa – 403006

Mobile No: 9822684372

Office Tel  No: (0832) 2444012

Email: airesrodrigues1@gmail.com

                         Or

           airesrodrigues@yahoo.com

You can also reach me on

Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues

Twitter@rodrigues_aires

www.airesrodrigues.com

[IAC#RG] PM MODI's SPEECHES AND BROKEN PROMISES ARE RECYCLED HOT AIR

There is rightly a sense of disbelief and a trust deficit with those in Power.  At that 2014 election rally at Merces in Goa after promising 'Acche din' Narendra Modi gave us an assurance and vowed that money stashed away in Swiss banks would be brought back and 15 lakhs would be credited into everyone's bank account. Obviously, a forlorn hope and disappointment for the many and a broken promise by a PM who knew full well that he had no intention of keeping or capable of honouring. I have stopped listening to any of his blabbering as it always leads to disappointment and frustration. It is always hot air and much ado about nothing.

However, when it was announced at short notice that the Prime Minister was going to address the nation on 12th May at 8 pm at the height of a grave and worrying pandemic, I chose to be glued to listen to what he had to say with a hope that he had finally found something worthwhile to communicate.

After half an hour into his discourse, I could not figure out what the hell he wished to communicate. As it was a damp squib, a much ado about nothing, I decided to hit the pillow after hearing that he was planning a 20 lakh crore cash stimulus to prop up a failing economy, without revealing the source of that money. It all sounded a repeat of his 2014 election stunt at Merces.

India's limp along Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has long lost the plot and needs to be replaced by someone who can think out of the box with vision, economic policies and correctly targeted investment with full transparency and zero tolerance to corruption. This is vital and urgently required to chart India's road to financial recovery especially in view of the current COVID-19 raging pandemic.

But there is no hope whatsoever that our polity and political turf will ever improve. It is only further deteriorating and awfully decaying by the day. The unacceptable antics and behavior of some of our politicians in recent times has turned it into a despised profession and looked upon with disdain and held in low esteem by the very people that they are meant to serve.

William Hazlitt a great essayist and English philosopher, observed that ''some persons make promises for the pleasure of breaking them''. PM Modi's track record perfectly fits this description. John D. Rockefeller, the powerful business magnate and philanthropist believed in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's word should be as good as his bond, that character- not wealth or power or position- is of supreme worth.  

Some years ago, Supreme Court Judges B.N.Agarwal and G.S.Singhvi had observed that even God cannot save our country from such politicians. Amen

 

Aires Rodrigues

Advocate High Court

C/G-2, Shopping Complex

Ribandar Retreat,

Ribandar – Goa – 403006

Mobile No: 9822684372

Office Tel  No: (0832) 2444012

Email: airesrodrigues1@gmail.com

                         Or

           airesrodrigues@yahoo.com

You can also reach me on

Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues

Twitter@rodrigues_aires

www.airesrodrigues.com

Re: [IAC#RG] Migrant labour - and affluent Biharis stranded abroad

This is to inform you that in order to quickly advance the spread of Cov2 in the state of Bihar (and perhaps to access whatever funds it can from the Centre), besides running special trains to bring lakhs of EWS migrants from other states back by rail, Bihar CM has now ordered state funded repatriation of all stranded Biharis in UAE, UK, EU countries by special air flights. Some 8000 Biharis awaiting repatriation at this late date include blue collar workers, students and affluent middle class citizens. 

As per the attached TOI report they will be ferried from Gaya airport to Bodh Gaya to be placed in 21-day quarantine in hotels and monastic hostels there starting 16 May. Bihar CM will get central funds for this exercise but he will also succeed in killing the goose that lays the golden eggs for Bihar in terms of the international and internal tourist and pilgrim travel trade that Bodh Gaya attracts. There isn't a single competent hospital in the pilgrim centre, few speciality hospitals in Gaya 20kms away, nor are there medical staff trained to care for the Corona positive cases that are bound to emerge in the hostel and hotels they will be placed in. Local untrained and ill-equipped caregivers will soon find themselves infected but without access to government aid for their treatment and intensive care. If deaths occur among the repatriates - due to delayed hospitalisation and treatment in Patna or elsewhere - Bodh Gaya will cease to be one of India's main international destinations for years to come.

....I'm unable to export the relevant TOI article from my WhatsApp account and shall send it separately.

Joya Roy

On Fri, 15 May 2020, 02:04 Sarbajit Roy, <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

To:

Shri R.N.Malhotra ji

Migrant labour is only one symptom of the mismanagement of India by ALL political parties.

1. This Government had full knowledge since 20th January 2020 about the likelihood (nay certainty) of it becoming a pandemic. Let Shri Ajay Bhalla, IAS, (Home Secretary) deny it if he can

2. This Government knew very well by 30th January 2020 (when first COVID death occurred in India) that China was grossly under-reporting cases (showing 4,000 cases when actual figure was over 80,000) and disease had spread afar to UAE and R0 then was at least 3.5 (Re has varied since then between 1.3 to 5).

3. This Government knew very well on Feb 25th 2020 that there had been over 600 infections in USA (the first cases were as far back as 3rd January 2020), but all this Govt could think of was entertaining Donald Trump and causing lakhs of people to assemble at his meetings. Its no coincidence that places like Ahmedabad, Agra and Delhi where Trump stayed are the hotspots for this disease.

4. On Feb 26th 2020 this Govt knew very well that COVID was raging like wildfire in Wuhan (China) so what did they do ? Send an Airforce plane to bring back 110 people who were allowed to rejoin the population after the shortest quarantine possible when nothing definite was known about the virus except that it was highly infectious and has a kill rate of 25% of those hospitalised.

In very blunt language,

a) Who the F**K was advising our Prime Minister, or was it only for optics ?

b) Why were our borders (especially airports) not sealed as far back as February 10th when the entire scientific knew for at least a week that this was going to be a pandemic. Who postponed it to March 20th?

c) Why was the first lockdown only implemented on March 25th when it should have happened by 15th February?

As Dr. Kapoor has written and graphically illustrated (repeatedly) to our members, it seems this Government is deliberately infecting vast sections of the nation as a matter of policy. It is a diabolical strategy to create an aura of FEAR and CONFUSION where even the fig-leaf democracy is given the go-by. In this they have the full cooperation of sections of Indian industry who are simply fed up with labour. China does not achieved its world dominance nowadays though labour, except the slave / captive labour kind. Its all highly automated nowadays over there and there was 50% mass unemployment in China even before COVID. Corporate India badly wants to be untied from labour and all the "laws / regulations / red tape" which goes with it. This is a great chance for them to extract money from banks so long as our politicians are deluded that India is going to be the world's next super-power

Also, its only in this nation, that there is historically a "create work for the people" kind of approach. Organizations like Railways have been treated by successive Ministers as employment bureaus and not a single Chairman of the Railway Board, to my knowledge, ever protested publicly against this while in office. Why are India's armed forces so over-manned ? Which idiot in the Army has come up with this new plan to take civilians on 3 year contracts, or is it a longer strategy to cut the pensions burden ?

As far as migrant labour is concerned, their poor over-cramped slumlike and unhygenic UNPLANNED living conditions in urban centres are very significantly responsible for the infection refusing to die down. It is a pragmatic decision to expel them from the cities, indirectly if not directly. It will also ensure that by migrants acting as carriers the disease will now spread well throughout India in places where medical facilities are poor or non-existent and where nobody is bothered about maintaining statistics. You can be very sure that by mid-June COVID testing by the States is going to dramatically decline as the effect of infected migrants returning home becomes evident. The infection numbers have already started spiking in Goa and Bihar as the migrants return home. Opening the Railways for Shramik Expresses is sure to spread the disease deep into the hinterlands to create pools from where it will strike back.

Sarbajit Roy

On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 12:56 AM ravindra malhotra <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

In this forum there has been endless discussion on irrelevant issues, personal allegations and rebukes, while the issues at present killing a chunk of population is forgotten. 

We have been reading in papers and listening in news heartrending stories of plight of migrant labour in India - walking hundreds of miles or trying to walk with their meagre belongings on their head, children and women including pregnant women in toe, hungry and exhausted. Some perished  on the way. This inspite of arrangement for their stay and food having been ordered by the centre and the state governments.  While millions availed of hospitality of state, thousands kept on trying to flee or actually fled on foot. Even today the highways are teeming with these miserable people walking,some pulling their children on carts, some spending all their savings in payment to truck drivers, but still unsuccessful in reaching their destination. 

What went wrong? I have the following take -

Our bureaucracy have no category of 'migrant labour' in their books. They have SC's, ST's, OBC'c, BPL's, ultra Bpl's in their books but no migrant labour as a category. It resulted in the fact that they were forgotten when the lock down was imposed, and  their  existence and problems were realised only when they started collecting at inter state borders in thousands all over India. 

Same is the status of politicians vis-a-vis migrant labour..  Migrant labour is no voter for any one, as he works in the state or constituency where he does not have voting rights. At the time of elections, he is not in the constituency for which he has voting rights, as a migrant labour he is working elsewhere and does not have the money and time to go to his home only for voting. No political personnel or political party is therefore interested in them and their welfare is left to some NGO's with limited resources. They have no advocates for them out of  public representatives in state or central govt. The attitude of bureaucracy is also probably in large extent due to this fact of political apathy. 

The Central Govt has , after their initial forgetfulness about this category of people, ha announced many measures including their sheltering and feeding. Implementation has evidently not been that sincere. It is the public representatives, who advise their people about what the Govt is doing for them and also take their grievances to the governments. This was lacking due to reasons given above, leaving the labour un satisfied and dis satisfied resulting in their clamour to go back to their states. Some states have now been giving them calls to stay back as large scale exodus from the state of their work has started now with ease of restrictions, while their presence is now required to restart the economic activity. 

Centre has announced a monetary assistance to migrant labour..But how are these people moving on the highways, collected outside railway stations, living/resting on pavements to know? Political parties and their support organisation that claim to be NGO's could have helped if their volunteers, who are deputed for convassing during elections, are deputed to guide correctly these pitiable people. But of course these people are not voters - so who cares!

   

If anyone has a view on the issues of migrant labour, it will be interesting to know.

R.N.Malhotra

Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in

Re: [IAC#RG] Migrant labour - suffering in present corona virus pandemic

My view may appear bizarre. But it is based on study of a biologist on the influence of integrity of territory on the integrity of a community. History also has influenced me. Besides Ghandhi's Swaraj concept in my view also supports.

Is Free Flow of immigrants between states for that matter even districts/ villages conducive to harmony of the communities, the local and the immigrants? 

RN Radhakrishnan 

On Fri 15 May, 2020, 00:53 ravindra malhotra, <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

In this forum there has been endless discussion on irrelevant issues, personal allegations and rebukes, while the issues at present killing a chunk of population is forgotten. 

We have been reading in papers and listening in news heartrending stories of plight of migrant labour in India - walking hundreds of miles or trying to walk with their meagre belongings on their head, children and women including pregnant women in toe, hungry and exhausted. Some perished  on the way. This inspite of arrangement for their stay and food having been ordered by the centre and the state governments.  While millions availed of hospitality of state, thousands kept on trying to flee or actually fled on foot. Even today the highways are teeming with these miserable people walking,some pulling their children on carts, some spending all their savings in payment to truck drivers, but still unsuccessful in reaching their destination. 

What went wrong? I have the following take -

Our bureaucracy have no category of 'migrant labour' in their books. They have SC's, ST's, OBC'c, BPL's, ultra Bpl's in their books but no migrant labour as a category. It resulted in the fact that they were forgotten when the lock down was imposed, and  their  existence and problems were realised only when they started collecting at inter state borders in thousands all over India. 

Same is the status of politicians vis-a-vis migrant labour..  Migrant labour is no voter for any one, as he works in the state or constituency where he does not have voting rights. At the time of elections, he is not in the constituency for which he has voting rights, as a migrant labour he is working elsewhere and does not have the money and time to go to his home only for voting. No political personnel or political party is therefore interested in them and their welfare is left to some NGO's with limited resources. They have no advocates for them out of  public representatives in state or central govt. The attitude of bureaucracy is also probably in large extent due to this fact of political apathy. 

The Central Govt has , after their initial forgetfulness about this category of people, ha announced many measures including their sheltering and feeding. Implementation has evidently not been that sincere. It is the public representatives, who advise their people about what the Govt is doing for them and also take their grievances to the governments. This was lacking due to reasons given above, leaving the labour un satisfied and dis satisfied resulting in their clamour to go back to their states. Some states have now been giving them calls to stay back as large scale exodus from the state of their work has started now with ease of restrictions, while their presence is now required to restart the economic activity. 

Centre has announced a monetary assistance to migrant labour..But how are these people moving on the highways, collected outside railway stations, living/resting on pavements to know? Political parties and their support organisation that claim to be NGO's could have helped if their volunteers, who are deputed for convassing during elections, are deputed to guide correctly these pitiable people. But of course these people are not voters - so who cares!

   

If anyone has a view on the issues of migrant labour, it will be interesting to know.

R.N.Malhotra

Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in

Re: [IAC#RG] Migrant labour - suffering in present corona virus pandemic

To:

Shri R.N.Malhotra ji

Migrant labour is only one symptom of the mismanagement of India by ALL political parties.

1. This Government had full knowledge since 20th January 2020 about the likelihood (nay certainty) of it becoming a pandemic. Let Shri Ajay Bhalla, IAS, (Home Secretary) deny it if he can

2. This Government knew very well by 30th January 2020 (when first COVID death occurred in India) that China was grossly under-reporting cases (showing 4,000 cases when actual figure was over 80,000) and disease had spread afar to UAE and R0 then was at least 3.5 (Re has varied since then between 1.3 to 5).

3. This Government knew very well on Feb 25th 2020 that there had been over 600 infections in USA (the first cases were as far back as 3rd January 2020), but all this Govt could think of was entertaining Donald Trump and causing lakhs of people to assemble at his meetings. Its no coincidence that places like Ahmedabad, Agra and Delhi where Trump stayed are the hotspots for this disease.

4. On Feb 26th 2020 this Govt knew very well that COVID was raging like wildfire in Wuhan (China) so what did they do ? Send an Airforce plane to bring back 110 people who were allowed to rejoin the population after the shortest quarantine possible when nothing definite was known about the virus except that it was highly infectious and has a kill rate of 25% of those hospitalised.

In very blunt language,

a) Who the F**K was advising our Prime Minister, or was it only for optics ?

b) Why were our borders (especially airports) not sealed as far back as February 10th when the entire scientific knew for at least a week that this was going to be a pandemic. Who postponed it to March 20th?

c) Why was the first lockdown only implemented on March 25th when it should have happened by 15th February?

As Dr. Kapoor has written and graphically illustrated (repeatedly) to our members, it seems this Government is deliberately infecting vast sections of the nation as a matter of policy. It is a diabolical strategy to create an aura of FEAR and CONFUSION where even the fig-leaf democracy is given the go-by. In this they have the full cooperation of sections of Indian industry who are simply fed up with labour. China does not achieved its world dominance nowadays though labour, except the slave / captive labour kind. Its all highly automated nowadays over there and there was 50% mass unemployment in China even before COVID. Corporate India badly wants to be untied from labour and all the "laws / regulations / red tape" which goes with it. This is a great chance for them to extract money from banks so long as our politicians are deluded that India is going to be the world's next super-power

Also, its only in this nation, that there is historically a "create work for the people" kind of approach. Organizations like Railways have been treated by successive Ministers as employment bureaus and not a single Chairman of the Railway Board, to my knowledge, ever protested publicly against this while in office. Why are India's armed forces so over-manned ? Which idiot in the Army has come up with this new plan to take civilians on 3 year contracts, or is it a longer strategy to cut the pensions burden ?

As far as migrant labour is concerned, their poor over-cramped slumlike and unhygenic UNPLANNED living conditions in urban centres are very significantly responsible for the infection refusing to die down. It is a pragmatic decision to expel them from the cities, indirectly if not directly. It will also ensure that by migrants acting as carriers the disease will now spread well throughout India in places where medical facilities are poor or non-existent and where nobody is bothered about maintaining statistics. You can be very sure that by mid-June COVID testing by the States is going to dramatically decline as the effect of infected migrants returning home becomes evident. The infection numbers have already started spiking in Goa and Bihar as the migrants return home. Opening the Railways for Shramik Expresses is sure to spread the disease deep into the hinterlands to create pools from where it will strike back.

Sarbajit Roy

On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 12:56 AM ravindra malhotra <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

In this forum there has been endless discussion on irrelevant issues, personal allegations and rebukes, while the issues at present killing a chunk of population is forgotten. 

We have been reading in papers and listening in news heartrending stories of plight of migrant labour in India - walking hundreds of miles or trying to walk with their meagre belongings on their head, children and women including pregnant women in toe, hungry and exhausted. Some perished  on the way. This inspite of arrangement for their stay and food having been ordered by the centre and the state governments.  While millions availed of hospitality of state, thousands kept on trying to flee or actually fled on foot. Even today the highways are teeming with these miserable people walking,some pulling their children on carts, some spending all their savings in payment to truck drivers, but still unsuccessful in reaching their destination. 

What went wrong? I have the following take -

Our bureaucracy have no category of 'migrant labour' in their books. They have SC's, ST's, OBC'c, BPL's, ultra Bpl's in their books but no migrant labour as a category. It resulted in the fact that they were forgotten when the lock down was imposed, and  their  existence and problems were realised only when they started collecting at inter state borders in thousands all over India. 

Same is the status of politicians vis-a-vis migrant labour..  Migrant labour is no voter for any one, as he works in the state or constituency where he does not have voting rights. At the time of elections, he is not in the constituency for which he has voting rights, as a migrant labour he is working elsewhere and does not have the money and time to go to his home only for voting. No political personnel or political party is therefore interested in them and their welfare is left to some NGO's with limited resources. They have no advocates for them out of  public representatives in state or central govt. The attitude of bureaucracy is also probably in large extent due to this fact of political apathy. 

The Central Govt has , after their initial forgetfulness about this category of people, ha announced many measures including their sheltering and feeding. Implementation has evidently not been that sincere. It is the public representatives, who advise their people about what the Govt is doing for them and also take their grievances to the governments. This was lacking due to reasons given above, leaving the labour un satisfied and dis satisfied resulting in their clamour to go back to their states. Some states have now been giving them calls to stay back as large scale exodus from the state of their work has started now with ease of restrictions, while their presence is now required to restart the economic activity. 

Centre has announced a monetary assistance to migrant labour..But how are these people moving on the highways, collected outside railway stations, living/resting on pavements to know? Political parties and their support organisation that claim to be NGO's could have helped if their volunteers, who are deputed for convassing during elections, are deputed to guide correctly these pitiable people. But of course these people are not voters - so who cares!

   

If anyone has a view on the issues of migrant labour, it will be interesting to know.

R.N.Malhotra

Re: [IAC#RG] Migrant labour - suffering in present corona virus pandemic

God has now taken over, try your best, Coronavirus will do the rest.
Have you ever seen snowing on 14th May, in last decades ?
Three idiots in the center & three idiots in the States are responsible for the present situations in India. Since these idiots had were under the impression that the are the Gods, in the planet. One idiot came from US to sell the dolls, another idiots wanted to buy & show the might, third idiot was busy to invent Coronavirus.

Now the situation in the whole planet is 56" has ordered to go all intellectuals in the cage, except God fearing are enjoying their life, they are taken care off. They are still not worried and are ready for any challenge. Only bribe takers, looters, fudgers, fixers, Traitors/touts are scared/frightened.

All I am saying is I had been alarming everyone since 1978 to be a human first, no one cared, now pay the price ?

Candidly yours

SURJANA  S  MEHTA
FOUNDER PRESIDENT
GLOBAL TRUST PARTY
(INA-I) : TO FIGHT HARDCORE TRAITORS\ MONGRELS.
N DELHI ADDRESS :
B - 94, SHIV PARK, 
NEAR SAINIK FARMS, 
NEW DELHI-110080.
SHIMLA ADDRESS
VILLAGE & PANCHAYAT GAHAN
NEAR NARKANDA DISTT. SHIMLA (MADE NEW SANGAM VIHAR BY UPA-II & NDA-II TRAITORS) 
H.P. 171213. 
M. NO :    H P: 09816628628      
WHAT'S APP : 09818574733   
E-MAIl ID globaltrustparty@gmail.com

On May 15, 2020 00:55, "ravindra malhotra" <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:

In this forum there has been endless discussion on irrelevant issues, personal allegations and rebukes, while the issues at present killing a chunk of population is forgotten. 

We have been reading in papers and listening in news heartrending stories of plight of migrant labour in India - walking hundreds of miles or trying to walk with their meagre belongings on their head, children and women including pregnant women in toe, hungry and exhausted. Some perished  on the way. This inspite of arrangement for their stay and food having been ordered by the centre and the state governments.  While millions availed of hospitality of state, thousands kept on trying to flee or actually fled on foot. Even today the highways are teeming with these miserable people walking,some pulling their children on carts, some spending all their savings in payment to truck drivers, but still unsuccessful in reaching their destination. 

What went wrong? I have the following take -

Our bureaucracy have no category of 'migrant labour' in their books. They have SC's, ST's, OBC'c, BPL's, ultra Bpl's in their books but no migrant labour as a category. It resulted in the fact that they were forgotten when the lock down was imposed, and  their  existence and problems were realised only when they started collecting at inter state borders in thousands all over India. 

Same is the status of politicians vis-a-vis migrant labour..  Migrant labour is no voter for any one, as he works in the state or constituency where he does not have voting rights. At the time of elections, he is not in the constituency for which he has voting rights, as a migrant labour he is working elsewhere and does not have the money and time to go to his home only for voting. No political personnel or political party is therefore interested in them and their welfare is left to some NGO's with limited resources. They have no advocates for them out of  public representatives in state or central govt. The attitude of bureaucracy is also probably in large extent due to this fact of political apathy. 

The Central Govt has , after their initial forgetfulness about this category of people, ha announced many measures including their sheltering and feeding. Implementation has evidently not been that sincere. It is the public representatives, who advise their people about what the Govt is doing for them and also take their grievances to the governments. This was lacking due to reasons given above, leaving the labour un satisfied and dis satisfied resulting in their clamour to go back to their states. Some states have now been giving them calls to stay back as large scale exodus from the state of their work has started now with ease of restrictions, while their presence is now required to restart the economic activity. 

Centre has announced a monetary assistance to migrant labour..But how are these people moving on the highways, collected outside railway stations, living/resting on pavements to know? Political parties and their support organisation that claim to be NGO's could have helped if their volunteers, who are deputed for convassing during elections, are deputed to guide correctly these pitiable people. But of course these people are not voters - so who cares!

   

If anyone has a view on the issues of migrant labour, it will be interesting to know.

R.N.Malhotra

Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in

[IAC#RG] Migrant labour - suffering in present corona virus pandemic

In this forum there has been endless discussion on irrelevant issues, personal allegations and rebukes, while the issues at present killing a chunk of population is forgotten. 

We have been reading in papers and listening in news heartrending stories of plight of migrant labour in India - walking hundreds of miles or trying to walk with their meagre belongings on their head, children and women including pregnant women in toe, hungry and exhausted. Some perished  on the way. This inspite of arrangement for their stay and food having been ordered by the centre and the state governments.  While millions availed of hospitality of state, thousands kept on trying to flee or actually fled on foot. Even today the highways are teeming with these miserable people walking,some pulling their children on carts, some spending all their savings in payment to truck drivers, but still unsuccessful in reaching their destination. 

What went wrong? I have the following take -

Our bureaucracy have no category of 'migrant labour' in their books. They have SC's, ST's, OBC'c, BPL's, ultra Bpl's in their books but no migrant labour as a category. It resulted in the fact that they were forgotten when the lock down was imposed, and  their  existence and problems were realised only when they started collecting at inter state borders in thousands all over India. 

Same is the status of politicians vis-a-vis migrant labour..  Migrant labour is no voter for any one, as he works in the state or constituency where he does not have voting rights. At the time of elections, he is not in the constituency for which he has voting rights, as a migrant labour he is working elsewhere and does not have the money and time to go to his home only for voting. No political personnel or political party is therefore interested in them and their welfare is left to some NGO's with limited resources. They have no advocates for them out of  public representatives in state or central govt. The attitude of bureaucracy is also probably in large extent due to this fact of political apathy. 

The Central Govt has , after their initial forgetfulness about this category of people, ha announced many measures including their sheltering and feeding. Implementation has evidently not been that sincere. It is the public representatives, who advise their people about what the Govt is doing for them and also take their grievances to the governments. This was lacking due to reasons given above, leaving the labour un satisfied and dis satisfied resulting in their clamour to go back to their states. Some states have now been giving them calls to stay back as large scale exodus from the state of their work has started now with ease of restrictions, while their presence is now required to restart the economic activity. 

Centre has announced a monetary assistance to migrant labour..But how are these people moving on the highways, collected outside railway stations, living/resting on pavements to know? Political parties and their support organisation that claim to be NGO's could have helped if their volunteers, who are deputed for convassing during elections, are deputed to guide correctly these pitiable people. But of course these people are not voters - so who cares!

   

If anyone has a view on the issues of migrant labour, it will be interesting to know.

R.N.Malhotra