We Have Failed Our Migrant Workers Who Came to Cities With Hope, Crisis to Stay for a Year: Expert

For the first time since independence, India saw such a large-scale movement of people on foot, Umi Daniel, director, migration and education at Aide et Action International told News18 in an interview. Daniel is an expert on migration issues and has studied the ongoing crisis that nationwide lockdown has thrown open for the migrant labourers amid global coronavirus pandemic.

Centre's policy on the issue of return of migrant labourers to their home states has not been very clear. What do you think is the reason?

I think when the nationwide lockdown was announced, the government had no information about these invisible people, as to how many were there, in which state etc. This lack of information has been quite apparent since the day the lockdown came into force. The Centre clearly did not anticipate so many people wanted to return to their homes. There was no Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) set in place. So, when the crisis of migrant labourers walking back to their home states began, there was confusion about how the governments would help them. Whether they would get buses into play or trains and who would pay for the transportation charges.

What have you found from your own observations?

We found that five lakh people had walked down to their villages in the last few weeks. This number is quite high. After the partition never have so many people walked through the country. It is also clear that the economically poorer states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha are going to have a tough time with so many of their locals returning to the state. Jharkhand has done appreciable work in managing this crowd, given their limited resources. But this is clearly going to be a challenge in days to come.

How long do you think the migration will last?

It's hard to say but at least for the coming six months to one year the problem and anxiety of labour force is going to be there. I think we have failed our migrant workers who came with a lot of hope to the cities to earn a decent living. There is deficit of trust, there is fear of disease and speculation of whether they will still have a job when conditions become suitable for their return. A task force that works in coordination between the Centre and the states will have to answer these questions of the migrant labour force. States which send a bulk of migrant labourers, who are now returning to their homes, will have to be extended extra help.