Noor Mohammed, in his late 30s, worked in the construction sector in Bengaluru before the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. He returned to his home in Uttar Pradesh on a Shramik Special, but with no jobs in his village and having to feed a large family, he migrated to Punjab in search of a job.
“I came to Punjab a few weeks ago, but work is hard to come by. I have had to take loans to survive the last few months. With the loan I had taken earlier, my debts amount to nearly ₹2 lakh. I don't know when I will be able to repay that,” he told The Hindu during a telephone conversation.
Lakhs of migrant workers, who returned home during the pandemic, find themselves in a Catch-22 situation of sorts: joblessness at home, which prompted their migration to big cities in the first place, and now, the fear of contracting COVID-19 if they return to the very cities they left. This has left them more vulnerable to human trafficking networks that poach people for bonded labour and prostitution.
While Noor Mohammed has not fallen prey to such networks, others may not escape. Desperation may push them to these networks, activists fear. Often, people under distress take loans, which is termed as ‘advance’, and families are pushed into bonded labour as a mode of repayment. Karnataka being one of the largest destination States for migrant labourers, has a high prevalence of bonded labour.
“The dearth of jobs in their home State, lack of savings and access to more legitimate means to apply for loans leaves migrant workers in a very precarious situation, especially during a large-scale crisis like we are seeing today. Furthermore, in several cases, migrants who left the State were not even paid their salaries for several months. Others had to survive in the city for many months without a job or wages exhausting what little savings they had. This leaves them with no means to take care of their families,” said Prathima M., Associate Director, International Justice Mission, an NGO that has been working with those rescued from bonded labour.
The Ministry of Home Affairs released guidelines for State governments to increase surveillance to prevent human trafficking, especially as a fallout of the pandemic. The guidelines dated July 7, direct States to set up anti-trafficking units in all districts and call for a coordination mechanism at the highest level between various related departments to check trafficking. The guidelines say: “Panchayats may be asked to maintain a register of every individual in the village, including migrant labourers and monitor their movement.”
Dr. Parashiva Murthy, additional director general of police and nodal officer, Anti Trafficking Unit, Karnataka, said they were working on the new guidelines. While no fresh cases of trafficking for forced labour have come to light recently, surveillance and rescue of workers from bonded labour is a continuous process, he said.
(World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is observed on July 30)
