The trials and tribulations of the migrant/guest workers impacted by the ongoing COVID crisis is just half the story. Yes, it is sad that they trudged hundred of kilometres to get back home, and it is disappointing that the PM did not show enough empathy towards them in his last speech. Yes, they are jobless, homeless, and probably penniless too.
Their lives are tough. One missing paycheck, one health issue, or one high-school graduating kid aspiring for college education, can put them squarely into the hands of loan sharks, never to get out of those clutches at least for one whole generation. It is tough for many of us to fathom how much on the edge they live.
The real story however is not that they are in a tough spot today, but what made them get to the brink within weeks of a national shutdown. It is a story of them living precariously, month after month, exploited by state governments because it costs them nothing to keep them in the new state, exploited by contractors and employers because they cost less - these people are willing to live in slums and ghettos in filth, and with minimal amenities, and exploited by common people like you and me who use their services as house helps, errand boys, and the likes because these people are desperate for jobs, and come cheap. Everyone took advantage of their plight, and took no responsibility to improve their lives beyond paying their wages regularly.
I believe governments must see them as human capital and not as expendable labour. We must house them better, much the same way we budget to house poorer sections of the local population. Construction sector, which is the biggest employer of these migrant workers, must be made to provide for far better infrastructure for these people. Alternately, governments should be forced to provide reasonable housing for them at state cost, and recover those monies from their employers through levies, fees, or taxes. These workers’ families should have access to public schools, and creches much like local kids do, or public healthcare, or rations.
In this race to get out of the current COVID situation, state governments are fast tracking laws that are fundamentally anti-labour, gift-wrapping them as investor-friendly. Industry of course will be thrilled with any law that gives them free passes. I believe such laws actually work to the disadvantage of employees, and the nation in the long run. Who would ever want to see a repeat of the labour crises of the 80s precipitated by the Bombay textile mills shutdown?
Bottom line - if we need these people for our state’s development, it is incumbent upon us to take care of them. We just should not be permitted to turn a blind eye, or palm off the problem to the centre or the home state. As India embarks on a growth trajectory, which I am hopeful it will, every state will increasingly compete for the same set of resources. It is therefore in the interest of each state to make it attractive enough for immigrants to make their state, the first choice as their adopted home. We cannot anymore afford to see them famished, dirty, and tired, walking hundreds of miles as soon as the next catastrophe hits us.
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