Lockdown: Double Whammy For Daily Wage Labourers Across India
Lakhs of daily wage labourers have returned to their villages after work stopped in cities during the nationwide lockdown. But since no work is available in villages too, silence prevails everywhere.
In villages, on one hand, while farmers are waiting for the wheat crop to be harvested, on the other, the harvested crop is lying in houses.
Farmers are worried over whether or not they will get the right price for their crop due to the lockdown. Like Madhya Pradesh, conditions are bad in Gujarat’s tribal areas as well. People are engaged in sand mining here but at present, work has stopped. Their children are facing many food-related difficulties and there is nothing to drink. The health of people who have reached their villages after walking hundreds of kilometres is deteriorating. The condition is such that if someone falls ill, there is no hospital nearby. It is a big challenge to cover a distance of 25-30 km during the lockdown. Amid a deepening financial crisis, labourers are waiting for the lockdown to end because they have no money and their condition is very fragile. The ration provided by the government in tribal-dominated areas is proving insufficient in satiating the hunger of an entire family. According to the guidelines of the Home Ministry, state governments have been asked to get work done under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), so that some money reaches daily wage labourers. However, it remains to be seen when these guidelines will be implemented.
Farmers are worried over whether or not they will get the right price for their crop due to the lockdown. Like Madhya Pradesh, conditions are bad in Gujarat’s tribal areas as well. People are engaged in sand mining here but at present, work has stopped. Their children are facing many food-related difficulties and there is nothing to drink. The health of people who have reached their villages after walking hundreds of kilometres is deteriorating. The condition is such that if someone falls ill, there is no hospital nearby. It is a big challenge to cover a distance of 25-30 km during the lockdown. Amid a deepening financial crisis, labourers are waiting for the lockdown to end because they have no money and their condition is very fragile. The ration provided by the government in tribal-dominated areas is proving insufficient in satiating the hunger of an entire family. According to the guidelines of the Home Ministry, state governments have been asked to get work done under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), so that some money reaches daily wage labourers. However, it remains to be seen when these guidelines will be implemented.
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