Yogi goes beyond Migrant care, looks beyond COVID-19 crisis

NewsBharati 03-Jun-2020 11:12:26 AM

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-Manisha Inamdar

Migrant workers, who are the biggest resources of the country, are unregulated labor market. It badly needs to be regulated. It is difficult to imagine that India, as a nation, doesn’t have a consolidated database of migrant workers for decades though the migration of skilled and unskilled workers is a reality. They could’ve been traced to send all basic needs in case of a pandemic or natural disaster. If data and statistics about migrant workers would have been available with the government, government could have reached them with one SMS or through their employers to check who wished to go back to native place. It is said that a disaster of this scale was implemented, despite some states playing politics, for one nation, one ration card. With registrations, trains and buses could have been arranged to avoid chaos and distress.

A heavily pregnant woman holding the hand of her toddler, another woman breastfeeding her newly born baby while making sure to hold her toddler’s hand, a father carrying his young child on his shoulder traveling by buses or by any means of transport to return their home towns in scorching heat are heart-rending to see, the plight of migrant workers is emotionally draining. A responsible citizen—who is blessed enough to sustain his/her family during lockdown—carries the weight of their suffering. He feels guilty when he watches such videos of laborers’ ordeal.

One innocent woman has child in her lap and a toddler playing besides her. Another woman was heavily pregnant with a toddler. We distributed food and milk to them as scorching heat added their hardships.
जन सेवा ही राष्ट्र सेवा https://t.co/8h0teUFUdm pic.twitter.com/Ab3GvBc5aq
— Karan Vijay Sharma (@ikaransharma27) May 18, 2020

NGOs like RSS-affiliated ‘Sewa Bharati’ and ‘RSS Jankalyan Samiti’ and many other selfless groups have come forward to feed migrant workers selflessly providing food items. Along with a group of RSS activists, 24 years old Karan, who is a student, has been distributing food items to returnee migrants on highways for a week. But our population is so large, that it is difficult to say what despite RSS’s huge human resources and other Samaritans are doing for migrant workers is enough.

मेहनत कर अपनी जीविका चलाने वाले 23 लाख श्रमिक बहनों- भाइयों और उनके परिजनों को अब तक घर वापस लाया गया है। सभी का स्वास्थ्य परीक्षण कर उन्हें उपयुक्त रूप से क्वारंटीन करने, खाद्यान्न किट देने, राशन कार्ड बनवाने और ₹1,000 भरण-पोषण भत्ता दिए जाने के निर्देश दिए गए हैं।
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) May 24, 2020

To bring order from chaos and despair, UP CM, Yogi Adityanath has recently announced setting up a Commission for migrant laborers who have returned to the state. Till now 23 lacs laborers have been brought back home in UP. Instructions have been given to quarantine them suitably, provide them food , and issue ration cards with ₹ 1,000 maintenance allowance, after examining them all.

घर वापस आए श्रमिक बहनों-भाइयों को प्रदेश में ही सेवायोजित करने के लिए एक माइग्रेशन कमीशन गठित करने की रूपरेखा तैयार की जा रही है।
'अर्थव्यवस्था की धुरी' इन कामगारों को प्रदेश में ही रोजगार उपलब्ध करवाकर इन्हें सामाजिक सुरक्षा की गारंटी देने के लिए हम प्रतिबद्ध हैं।
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) May 24, 2020

Key points of reference for the commission are:

The Commission would ensure all migrant laborers are provided with social security, insurances, and employment assistance within the state.

It would also make sure that no worker from the state is ill-treated anywhere in the country or they face dire financial crisis.

If a state wants migrant laborers from UP, they need to seek permission from the UP government. This is how UP would ensure the social, legal, and monetary rights of the workers from UP.

UP government has already asked state officials to conduct a skill mapping of migrant laborers who had returned to the state.

Invisible Coronavirus threw a challenge to the humankind, the mighty and brainy inhabitants of the earth, to survive in the year of 2020. Life was thrown out of gear, when trials and tribulations, after more than a century, but on a much larger scale. Even if mankind was caught off-guard without any armory to deal with it, every nation used all its available resources to save its citizens. India too did its best.

Now, every migrant worker within India too needs to be lifted from his/her misery by the state governments. With a population of 20.42 crores UP has 6,564 COVID-19 infected patients with 175 deaths, while Maharashtra, with a population of 11.42 crores, has 56,849 Corona-infected with 1,889 deaths till 27th May. Huge differences of COVID-19 infected and casualties between the two states underlines the fact that Yogi government handled COVID-19 effectively, with a firm hand.

Now, Yogi is again showing the way, how to re-employ workers effectively. His plans to profile the skills of workers, work at lightning speed to bring in new industries so workers who don’t wish to return can get a job in the state itself. His ability to get one of the largest German industries to UP shows he is doing his homework well. His decision to speed up infrastructure work to deploy workers profitably so both the state and its citizens' benefit has energized the state.

It seems UP is in a hurry to come out of the BIMARU group. Yogi can become a torch-bearer for other states. Post Corona UP may throw a surprise which progressives refuse to acknowledge yet. Other states can follow the lead then. UP might show what an empowered worker living dignified life may not want to migrate.