Workers, the real India
Though the travails of migrant workers have been highlighted by the media time and again, their status remains unenviable. They went through the extreme rigours of staying away from home and suffered in silence, having been deprived of livelihoods during the lockdown period. The inhuman treatment meted out to them such as spraying disinfectants on them like cattle cannot be erased from memory. The government needs to ensure that the free foodgrains scheme reaches bonafide beneficiaries — migrants who are still stationed in their work places. After all, they are the fulcrum of nation building, whose existential concerns should be addressed.
P.K. Varadarajan,
Chennai
The announcements for migrant workers and small farmers in the stimulus package are short on complete succour, given the magnitude of the crisis. Many migrant workers have either reached their home towns or on their way home.
They will be reluctant to go back to their workplaces out of fear of contracting infection and the great worry of an uncertain future.
What they need badly need apart from food security is job security. Unfortunately, some States are taking extreme steps such as diluting labour laws. The workers should be treated as equal players to entrepreneurs in the running of the economy.
Dr. D.V.G. Sankararao,
Nellimarla, Andhra Pradesh
The ongoing crisis regarding migrant labour serves as an eye-opener to all. Walking on their own on never-ending roads, with family and belongings, shows that the real India which once used to reside in villages, has now migrated to towns and cities elsewhere. Ironically, it is not COVID-19 patients, but the journey of migrant workers that has become the defining image of the novel coronavirus pandemic in India. The situation is powerful enough to shake our collective conscience — as a citizen and as a consumer of goods made with their labour.
Anish Ranjan,
Visakhapatnam
