STATES RINGED BY FENCES WILL IMPRISON THEMSELVES

Migration is an expression of the human aspiration for dignity, safety and a better future and has been entwined with existence of human history for thousands of years. It has continued un-relented and would continue till humans live on this planet.

The themes of migrations have not changed a wee bit in thousands of years. A better life, a better hope and a better acceptance has been the wish-list of humans- then and is also now.

We all have migrated- some for good, some for a while and some for self development & livelihood. But we have all migrated & yet we all snide at migrants & refugees who seek shelter for a better life trampled by the circumstances. 

The pandemic could worsen the existing vulnerabilities of the world's refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP) & equally compelling legitimate migrant labours across the globe. Travel bans, closed borders and living conditions in squalid camps all augment the risks to migrants, including refugees & IDPs.

This pandemic is going to intensify the helplessness of some of the 300 million international migrant workers worldwide, asides from the majority of the world's 67 million refugees, including IDPs, in developing countries that are now getting affected by the pandemic. They had a bleak future in the past that just got worse due to political missteps of the world leaders. Just think about it for a while that how are they different from us? Hardly any.

 Over 190 countries, territories and areas have passed travel restrictions due to COVID-19, including prohibitions of entry of nationals from other countries & even movements internally. Uncertainty and concern should not become a plank for punishing migrants.

With this backdrop, I would focus on internal migration issues of my country- India and not on the continental and global issues this time. My country is in dire straits, just that we are unwilling to grapple with this reality. Let us get reminded that ours is the second most populous country of 1,350 million people having its own set of problems that also has the highest number of citizens moving out for a better life as migrant. The Diaspora is 20 million worldwide who have migrated permanently. Rest have been on Job Visa.  

It is becoming clear that COVID-19 will not disappear immediately; the economy will need to be managed alongside persistent infection risks for a protracted period and reconcile with the truth of rising infection & death rates in India.

In the past seven weeks, India’s economy has functioned between 35-45% of its potential depending on the sector. Automobiles, for example, did zero manufacturing and sale in April 2020. This is unsustainable in the shorter terms also.

The Indian lockdown and restart capability would not be smooth and would be closely aligned to state and central-government policy and support to industries.

This would completely depend on migrant workers returning to resume works. Unlikely, the full force would return as almost 45% of economic activity is concentrated in 130 red-zone districts that are critical centres of production and consumption in India.

Keeping these red zone districts operational and safe would be critical in keeping economic activity sustainable. Can a single Government, under federalism, ensure safety cover to the migrant and other workers? Till now nothing- but doles to keep their voices down. They are voiceless today.

Economy of India cannot get back on tracks without migrant labours. Most of the industrial states are significantly dependent on migrant labours who are mostly employed on casual basis. All this would need to change fast; otherwise, we are staring at another pandemic- reluctant migrant class unwilling to move readily out of harrowing experience that they have & are facing already. As it is, worker participation rate has come down significantly due to lockdown.

Reopening of economic activity and migrant resettlements & engagements without a preparedness for pandemic related disaster would be more detrimental than to delay and Governments should take this opportunity to set things right.

This cannot preclude Migrant workers’ rights- remuneration and safety net, retirement & family benefits. All of them are lacking and are barely extended to just about 5 % workers engaged in organised sectors that have modest privy to these in India.

Migrant labour forces in their lifetime, for the first time, have felt the acuteness of existential crisis & more painfully- survival. We have to realise the “value of mote” & the treatment that we gave the migrants so far- just like dirt to be dusted off without a care.

Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have chosen to walk thousands of miles to reach their village in for some solace, risking life, despite poverty staring at their face. Governments failed to provide the migrant workers the basics in adequate measures to keep them stable. If such desperation continues, we would see riots as a daily affair in this country and that pandemonium would be starker than the pandemic.

I do not think that India ever thought seriously of labour welfare after 1977 and have invariably been driven by investor demands to creep in a hire & fire policies, including for casual workers that includes migrants, both male & females that is left to languish at the exploitative hands of the employers whose hands are only equipped by the Governments’ policies of dilution of rights and safety net to suit a profit convenience.

It is nexus of exploitation that is rampant worldwide & in India is glaring and acute is due to lax compliances by agencies. Minimum statutory wages in India is much less than two dollars a day on an average if we consolidate the entire pool.  

Many countries in the world even deny basic human rights – GCC countries & Africa would be apt example not forgetting the Asian Titan- PRC. 

Can the same companies operating in India & having bases in developed world can apply the same standards of safety , compensation and welfare of Indian labour in their country of origin, say- Japan, Germany, France & USA? We all know the answers.

To enable the economy to reopen sustainably championing the health and safety of citizens, India needs to take into consideration several measures, like, strengthening local health preparedness in pandemic zones, guaranteeing safe passage along key labour zones. Given the supply-chain linkages, the safe and controlled movement of labour will be critical if economic activity is to resume.

Migrant workers mostly now have acute trust deficit, especially in SME & MSME, where employers have left their migrant casual labour force that constitutes almost 80% of employments, high and dry. They have distrust with Governments as well.

Our Governments that have continued in power for last seventy year by touting removal of poverty and when that plank failed, the tokenism started with small doles declared in big numbers, but rolled out minimally. All action by the Governments thus far has been just populist & optics, without tackling the fundamental problem..

It is time for migrant workers & that fraternity to unite in a changing paradigm and assert and demand their rights to dignity, remuneration, social security by honest collective bargaining. Migrant labours & labour class have been failed miserably by deceptive practices & corrupt unionisation where rights were diluted and social security was thrown to the winds. It all happens right under the nose of Governments and are fully sanctioned. A raised voice is eased out and padded & worse is stifled and silenced.

We also have example of Europe, particularly Germany, where there is dual Governance system of a dual Board - Supervisory Board & Management Board- where employees are positioned to protect their rights & remunerations and also defining their obligations. It is the most democratised system in the world.

Is it hard to emulate? I think no. All it needs is a national commitment and support of Governments. We cannot have state specific labour law where all are Indians.

World has many great functioning model for right protections and why is it so difficult for our country to take a leaf out of them for larger interests on one and all.

Despite the contribution made by migrants to the national economy, most remain on the fringe of society & are preferred over local labour by employers because they are cheaper and are not unionised. The plight doesn’t end at that; they are rarely full citizens in the state of their work- they lose voting rights, they lose free healthcare and subsidised food and fuel under the PDS & find it hard to educate their children.

As migrants become one of the most important sources of labour across the country, services and support for migrant workers need to be seen as an essential investment for India’s development trajectory. But some states, like Karnataka, issued a blanket ban on their movements under the dictates of Builders lobby and cancelled their trains and transport so that they do not move. This is no better than bonded labour and advocated by a state government. What can be more demeaning & exploitative than this?

Looking ahead, the future remains uncertain and India will need to be ready for all sorts of eventualities. India’s economy will need to function alongside COVID-19 for a very long time. A well-implemented dynamic and locally driven lockdown policy can crank the economy’s engine in phased and planned manner, while managing health risks is required alongside protection of rights & remunerations of all workers- migrants or otherwise and more than 120 million migrant labours life depends on it.  

There is much at stake for India, in both lives and livelihoods, to get this right this time, otherwise, asides migrant workers crisis, businesses also would pull down shutters.  .

In the end, we all love utopia; but we have the lost paradise, called India. 

 9 May 2020