Whether the Indian government could have avoided the Covid19 lockdown given the many daily wagers and migrant workers, is not a question that cannot be answered in a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. Every situation has two perspectives, and in this case, one is that of the government, while the other belongs to the common man. And hence judging the situation from my perception, I would say it was not necessary to avoid the lockdown situation because that was the need of the hour. What the government could have done instead was to make provisions and arrangements for these innumerable workers who travel between states solely to earn a living.

The instruction issued by the World Health Organization was to maintain social distance to flatten the curve. According to it, the best way to achieve this distancing was a complete ‘lockdown’ of every social activity. But the situation of these migrant workers should have been one of the primary concerns of the government.

Suddenly shutting down everything had hit the migrant workers the worst; they not only lost their jobs but also their place of stay. Whatever little money they had left with was not enough to last for many days. What was worse was that a lot of them were with their full families. By not tending to these people, the announcement of the ‘national lockdown’ seemed to be a very inconvenient move which lead to the largest humanitarian crisis in the country.

The video and print media were flooded with reports of helpless conditions of the migrant workers and labourers amid the national lockdown. The entire nation felt sorry for their miserable plight. Initially, these workers began to live on what they had saved up and stayed on roads or any other place they could find. Gradually, when their funds started to exhaust and then they were left without any amenities, they set out on foot from big cities for their respective states, sometimes even covering distances of more than 1,000 kilometres.

During this exodus of the migrant workers, some weaker people succumbed to death on their way back home. A man was said to have committed suicide because he could not provide food for his family. In another report, a video of an infant with a dead mother lying in a railway station in Bihar went viral. As if all this despair was not enough then there were reports about some police officers harassing the people who were walking back home. Some were even arrested and prosecuted for the same. The news of the death of several workers trying to return home further enhanced the disgust of the common people towards the authorities.

Since nationwide lockdown was unavoidable, the government could have taken certain steps to lessen the adverse effects of the lockdown on the migrant workers. The government could have given notice before enforcing the lockdown. This would have given time to the migrant workers to return back to their native villages. If an immediate and emergency lockdown was needed and there was no time to inform the people beforehand; then, the full responsibility of the sustenance of these workers and their families could have been taken by the government. The government could have taken the help of the NGOs in providing food and ration to the stranded migrant workers.

Alternatively, some financial support could have been given to them. The labourers would be content that they would be getting something as opposed to nothing, even if they did not have active jobs. This would prevent them from taking the drastic step of journeying back home on foot. And if not anything else, the government should have put in efforts to reach these people back to their hometowns by running special trains and bus services. This would keep a lot of the confusion and ruckus at bay as well.

All these measures would have made the national lockdown a great success without hurting much the migrant and daily wage workers. Hope, our government learns from their mistakes and takes necessary steps to avoid another such humanitarian crisis in the future.
© Arked