We Have Failed Our People

Child trying to wake his dead mother

This picture sums up the distress, the anguish, and suffering of a large section of the Indian population who make up the category of migrant laborers. These are the unsung heroes of India’s development story. They are the ones who have toiled, struggled, and shed their sweat and blood to build “the temples of modern India” They have also build your houses, serviced your homes as domestic help and have helped generally to make your life comfortable.

The picture shows a tiny tot trying to wake his mother who lies dead covered with a sheet. Reports suggest that the mother had died of exhaustion and hunger. Along with her two children, she had arrived by train hungry and exhausted. To hide their shame bureaucrats totted out the story that she was mentally deranged, something that her family stoutly rejected.

Unaware that his mother has died, the child tries to wake her up by lifting the cloth repeatedly. If you have a heart the picture will cause you deep trouble.  It is one of the most heart-wrenching pictures that bring out the miseries of migrant workers across India. The video from Bihar's Muzaffarpur has shocked the country.

And yet in the Supreme Court the Solicitor General of India, presenting his government’s case, berated all those who drew attention to the worst humanitarian disaster India has seen in a long, long time.  Tushar Mehta said: “But we have something called prophets of doom who only spread negativity, negativity, and negativity. All these people writing on social media, giving interviews, cannot even acknowledge what is being done…they are not showing any courtesy to the nation.”

The woman had traveled by train, which moved at bullock cart speed, and had arrived several hours behind schedule. To make matter worse there was no food, water, or necessities for human survival. At Muzuffarpur, where her family de-boarded the train there was no food or water available. According to her brother in law she died two hours before the train arrived at Muzaffarpur. She was not the only one who died at the station. Another family who had arrived by the same train lost their four-year-old child because they could not find any milk or other nourishment at the station.

The deceased woman, Arbina Khatoon, was traveling with her sister and brother-in-law from Gujarat in a Shramik Special train. She was traveling to Katihar  According to her brother in law there was no food or water available on the train or en-route. Added to that was the seething heat and near suffocation condition within the compartment.

No water of food on the train or at the stations

Across the country migrant labor, mainly from Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Orissa, have over the past month walked hundreds of kilometers to get to their villages. Many have died along the way. One estimate has it that over 200 died on the road. In the initial days of the Lockdown, the migrants were told to stay where they were. They were assured that they would be provided with food and shelter.

Reports suggested that the promised aid was not forthcoming. A majority of the migrants were denied the promised aid and had to live on their meager savings. Having lost their jobs and being forced out of their rented accommodation they were left with no alternation and trek back to their villages several hundred kilometers away.

Hundreds of migrant workers across India have died due to exhaustion, starvation, heatstroke, road accidents, among others, as they desperately try to reach their homes. Most of them have been rendered jobless ever since the nationwide lockdown was imposed two months ago. The Centre and state government have been making tall claims of looking after the migrant workers, but two months into the lockdown, the reality remains that many of them are still walking back to their homes in the scorching sun and no little food

Belatedly, realizing the magnitude of the exodus the government organized to transport the migrants by announcing special trains. Having patted its back for transporting more than a million passengers to their homes in the special trains during the lockdown, the Railways have fallen short of expectations on many counts. The lack of basic facilities — food, water, and medical care — has made the travel difficult for the migrants. The rising temperatures and ongoing heatwave in north India are also taking a toll on these journeys.

 

In an article, (May 26, 2020) When we failed our poor: Governed by 'headless chicken'  in  the Deccan Herald, A S Ponnanna, a Senior Advocate and former Additional Advocate General, Karnataka, says “We need and owe more than an apology to our people. In fact, we are presenting an apology of the welfare state that we set out to establish post-Independence. The State, with reference to Article 12, has time and again failed the people and the Constitution that we gave ourselves to be governed through the State.

“The sudden lockdown was bad enough for the poor and labourers. Ironically, the relaxation has been even worse. If the plan, if there ever was one, was to allow people to cross state borders and go back to their homes and families, why wasn’t the present scenario that we face thought of as even a possibility?

“Is the lack of planning just a lack of vision or is it lack of empathy? If it is the former it reflects on the mediocrity of our society, if it is the latter then it reflects on our values.   Either way, it is a colossal failure of the State in fulfilling its fundamental obligations under the Constitution.  

.
“We may come out of this crisis like the many others we have faced. But will history forgive us for the way we have treated our poor, the downtrodden, and the have-nots in their hour of need? Will this period be painted in the history books like the one in which the State failed Mother India in providing justice -- social, economic and political -- in eliminating inequalities in status, facilities, and opportunities and, most importantly, in promoting fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual?

"As one section of people enjoyed the lockdown, displaying the variety of cuisines that they made and relished in the safety of their homes by posting pictures on social media,  the have-nots suffered due to the lack of basic nutrition, water, and shelter. The only saving grace was provided by the several philanthropical individuals and organizations who provided food, water, and other essentials, much-needed succor, to the needy. As much as we weep over the inadequacies the State displayed in handling this crisis, we will celebrate the great souls who stepped up to help the needy.”