As many of the migrant workers are now returning back home, they are now exposed to the possibility of having coronavirus, along with the many diseases that they suffer with.
Astha Oriel
May, 13th 2020
On May 5th, 2020, near Kurnool, the judicial capital of Andhra Pradesh, you could see hundreds of migrant workers, travelling from Bangalore to Hyderabad, to get home. Sitting in the dark, at the side of the road which connects Bangalore to Hyderabad, they travelled almost 400kms, without any masks, gloves or sanitiser. Most of them belonged to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Carrying an e-pass they were already checked up, marked and stamped up by the medical team, near the border checkpoint of Kurnool for the approval to travel further.
The Kurnool checkpoint was the only checkpoint in the stretch of 600kms from Bangalore to Hyderabad, where proper screening of the passengers was getting done as a guideline by the Ministry of Home Affairs to prevent the pandemic. The misery and plight of these migrant workers were visible as they marched for hundreds of kilometres to search for a means of transportation, without food, water, money, resources and crossing borders with a fear that they might be put into quarantine.
Devesh, a migrant from Madhya Pradesh, working in Bangalore, found himself searching for transportation to get back to his native Lakhnadeon, a small town in Madhya Pradesh as he waited for a means of transportation. He had travelled for hours, marching from Bangalore to Kurnool, thus covering a distance of almost 300 km, before taking shelter in the checkpoint. Wearing a rumpled yellow shirt, for the past four days, he had finally reached Kurnool, two-three hours before a vehicle was arranged for him by the police to get to the nearest railway station. But as he anticipated for any means of transportation, he was clueless whether he would reach home or not.
“Pta nahi hum Kahan jaayenge. Hum Lakhnadeon ke hai. Madhya Pradesh jana hai. Char din pehle nikle the par abhi tak ghar nhi pahuch paaye.”Devesh said, before jumping into the vehicle arranged by the police, for the people travelling to Madhya Pradesh. With Madhya Pradesh migrants now gone, it was the turn of migrants belonging from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to wait for the vehicles arranged by the police.
In this chaos, the desperation and helplessness of the police were also lucid. A senior police officer who has been monitoring this situation in the Kurnool checkpoint said that he is trying every possible way just to get these migrant workers to the nearest railway station. “The migrant workers are sitting here for the past 2-3 days. I am trying to arrange vehicles for them so that they can at least reach the railway station in the batch of 4-5 people. There is a meeting going on in the capital city of Telangana, to evacuate these migrant workers safely to their respective places. They have all travelled from Karnataka and Tamilnadu. Whatever food that they had, is all destroyed because of the weather. I am trying to arrange both transportation and food for them.”
This was before, the Telangana government decided to extend the lockdown till May 29th. Nonetheless, Kurnool is not the only place which witnessed the plight of migrant workers.
Just like Devesh, many migrant workers have been facing the same fate. In the city of Hyderabad, almost 1500-2000 migrant workers have sought shelter in petrol pumps and bus stands. With evenings camouflaging into nights, eerily silent, the migrant workers were hurrying to catch the buses or trucks waiting to carry migrant workers, without gloves, masks or preventive measures, whatsoever.
In the main city of Hyderabad, near Char-Minar, when most of the people are asleep, these migrant workers were wide awake, sitting in the bus stands or at the petrol pump, or at he roadside just to get back home. In the lorries, the migrant workers were sitting and sleeping crammed up, without any necessary measures whatsoever.
In a petrol pump, in the suburbs of Hyderabad, 1500-2000 migrant workers, were sprawled at the side of the road as they waited to get transportation that could carry them to their destination. Two-three trucks already waited, as some migrant workers sat inside them. In every toll from Hyderabad to Nagpur, trucks and lorries were crammed up with migrant workers, disregarding social distancing and thus posing a greater threat to their life.
On May 6th, near Sawanar, a town near Nagpur, by noon, around fifty packaged trucks carried more than a thousand migrant workers. Many of them were sitting in the roof of these vehicles, under the scorching sun, thus exposing themselves to get sick both by the summer heat and coronavirus.
Even though the government has started special trains for migrant workers, many reports suggest that migrant workers are still travelling back home in unconventional and un-sanitised means of transportation.
COVID along with other diseases
With the total number of Coronavirus cases in India has crossed more than 70,000 cases and more than 2000 deaths as per the data received by the Ministry of Home Affairs, there has been little to no relief for the migrant workers. India has entered Lockdown 3.0, with the government taking more stringent measures to prevent the further spread of the Coronavirus, the migrant workers, who are travelling from urban India to their rural habitats are now vulnerable to the pandemic, along with the many other health hazards which they are already exposed to.
According to a report by the UNDP, on migration and human development in India, the seasonal migration in India is 100 million as per the 2001 census.
A study name Young life at worksites states that NSS estimated 326 million internal migrants, out of which 118 million are urban migrants while 208 million are rural migrants. However, according to the UNESCO report for the year 2013, almost 400 million people have undergone internal migration in India, with 15% of them constituting children.
Another study by the Disha Foundation, along with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) states that most of the migrant workers are employed in the unorganised sector with minimal to no health facilities, the severe violation of labour laws as well as no stagnant workplace.
The major sectors where migrant workers are employed constitutes construction sites, domestic work, textile, brick kiln work, transportation, mines and quarries and agriculture along with getting self-employed as street Vendors and Street Hawkers.
The report by the Young Lives at Worksite states multi-factorial reasons for migration. The factor ‘No work’ topped the chart, thus accumulating 53% of the reason for migration.
With the constant movement from place to place, they are often being neglected in getting health benefits. Lack of awareness, procedural gaps in the procurement of documents, high work demand, no health benefits in the workplace, no sanitation facility, inadequate quality and quantity of food and water and lack of immunization, renders these migrant workers into the path of getting exposed to the deadly diseases.
With 39.63% of the migrant workers employed in agriculture, 37.67% are engaged as daily wagers, 1.51% are employed in additional occupation, whereas 0.2% as drivers.
As the migrant workers are employed in the unorganised sector, they are more prone in suffering from health diseases such as dermatitis, heat stress, respiratory conditions, musculoskeletal disorders, traumatic injuries, pesticides toxicity, increased risk of lung cancer, mesothelioma, Bagassosis, silicosis and tuberculosis, which often remain untreated. Malaria, hepatitis and typhoid fever are some of the diseases that are prevalent with the unhygienic habitat that the migrant workers live in.
Almost 38% of these migrant workers do not have a BPL card and hence shy away from getting the benefits of the health care system and Public Distribution System (PDS) facilities. With the migrant parents working under stressed working condition, a similar shadow looms over the head of migrant children. With no Anganwadi and ICDS facilities, these migrant children become a victim of Immunocompromised diseases such as anaemia, Polio and tetanus. Even during the time of birth, the pregnant mothers choose to deliver at home, instead of going to the hospital, as the monetary demand for their treatment is high as compared to what they earn.
As per the Young Lives at Worksite report, only 26.54% of migrant children get immunized, with only 69.95% of children receiving access for Pulse Polio Immunization Programme. Almost 65.32% of children living near worksites suffer from occupational diseases.
Another major factor that contributes to health hazards amongst the migrant workers is the type of environment that they are living in. The Young Lives at Worksite states that almost 91.89% migrant households do not have any ventilation, 94% do not have any sewage system, whereas 77.25% of them opt for open defecation, thus making them more prone to communicable diseases, such as malaria, Typhoid and Fever. The report also states that 63.72% households do not have a separate cooking space, with 80% of the migrants cooking the food in dusty surroundings, 9% cooking food in swampy conditions and only 4% households cooking food in clean and hygienic conditions, thus exposing these migrant workers to respiratory problems, heart problems, eye problems and persistent bowel problems like Cholera, Jaundice typhoid etc.
The sanitary situation of migrant workers in India also contributes to the major health hazards that they face. The report by the Young Lives at Worksite states that 77.3% of the migrant households do not have the availability of households, whereas 21.3% households opt for using unhygienic community toilets thus exposing themselves to diseases like Urinary Tract Infection.
With already being exposed to the health hazards, the threat of COVID 19 is now looming over migrant workers who are marching back home or are travelling in crammed up transportation.
In the early month of April, the centre has informed the Supreme Court about a possibility of one-third migrant workers getting infected by the Coronavirus, the Hindustan Times reported. The report stated that three out of 10 migrant workers are now exposed to Coronavirus.
Violation of Labour Laws
The Uttar Pradesh government in its latest order have exempted all the labour laws, except the following- Building and Other Construction Workers’ Act, 1996, Workmen Compensation Act, 1923, Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 1976 and only a section of payment of wages act. Followed by which, the BJP run states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, were also quick enough to exempting labour laws, thus giving a green signal for contractors to hire and fire the workers according to demands.
In Madhya Pradesh, apart from exempting from labour laws, the state has also disregarded the inspection of farms and factories, registration of the contractors as wells as the eased the renewal or approval of the factory licenses. In a report by the Economic Times, the working hours of the workers have also been increased from 8 hours to 12 hours in the factory, thus permitting the overtime up to 72 hours and operation of shops and establishments from 6 am till midnight.
The study by Young Lives at Worksite, states that most of the migrant workers belong from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) family. According to the study, the migrant population is divided into the following diaspora- 25%Scheduled tribe, 31%Schedules castes, 21%OBC, 16% Muslims, 5% general whereas 1% Christian.
Due to lack of proper education, the labour laws concerning migrant workers are already violated. The report states that the contractors employing the migrant workers, often take advantage of this one flaw within the system, thus excluding them from enjoying benefits such as a pension, provident fund etc. The other time, the migrant workers are unaware of the judicial and legalised procedure necessary to obtain the papers. With constant movement, the migrant workers fail to provide, a permanent address, a permanent bank account, and a permanent registration number, to get benefited from the various schemes and programmes by the government for the Below Poverty line(BPL) families.
The report by the Young Lives at worksites, states that out of the 100% population of migrant workers, only 26.47% are enrolled to MGNREGA benefits, 1.01% are enrolled under the old-age pension scheme, 7.12% are enrolled for Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana(RSBY), 0.44% are enrolled under Disabled Pension scheme, as well only 0.58% are enrolled under the widow pension scheme.
As India is facing mass migration of labour workforce, with many of them vulnerable to unconventional means of transport, the scope of migrant workers after coronavirus in regards to employment and health benefits is bleak. Due to lack of awareness of many beneficial programmes and schemes, the migrant workers have a long way to go, in getting back their life together.